


beauty behind the madness

by emilyrambles



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, Slow Burn, rating will pick up in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 20:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4933936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyrambles/pseuds/emilyrambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there's one thing seventeen year old Sameen Shaw wants (apart from her own dog) it's to get through her senior year of high school without getting into too much trouble. After meeting Root, a girl more complex than she initially seems, Shaw realises it's definitely not going to be easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. in this city

**Author's Note:**

> so this is basically a team machine hsau i've had in my head for a while now, the title is inspired by the weeknd's album which i listened to whilst writing a lot of this. hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's not meant to be here. According to the plan, she should be miles away by now. According to the plan, she's definitely sure there isn't supposed to be five criminal thugs chasing after her.
> 
> Plans can go wrong, Sameen Shaw learns.

Clockwise to thirty. Anti-clockwise twenty. Clockwise fifty.

The lock shifts and the safe swings open. The thief doesn't react, deciding to hold off on celebrations until they’re safely out of the house. Instead they carefully lift the USB stick and place it into their pocket. They pause for a moment, deciding whether they should take some of the twenty dollar bills stacked neatly in a pile.

 _Well it’s not like the owners are going to miss it_ , they think and grab a handful. Shutting the safe door, the thief allows themselves a short smile. The plan went perfectly, and they still have two minutes left to escape. According to the pre-planned calculations, the guards outside the door should still be on their smoke break, and so the thief slips silently through the open bathroom window they came in, and they land softly onto the crisp grass. They glance at their watch. 20:08pm.

Sameen Shaw’s stomach rumbles and she smirks. _A successful operation and still time for dinner._

She stays close to the side of the house, treading lightly on the balls of her feet. She glances round the corner and her heart skips a beat. The two men from earlier are back one minute early- and this time they brought friends with them.

This is not in the plan.

She watches as they walk up to the house (she counts five) and she prays for all of them to go in. At least that gives her a chance to put as many miles as she can between them before they discover the missing items, but for some reason luck seems to be against her this evening.

 _Karma, probably_ , Shaw grimaces. Four of the men enter the house, but one stays outside, stamping his cigarette on the concrete pathway. He turns away from the street and stares at something on the ground. It’s now or never. She sprints out from the side of the house and across the front lawn, heart pounding as loud as her footsteps, but before she can get to the sidewalk, the clouds that are providing her with much needed darkness slip past the moon, and the moonlight spills onto the road.

Then the unthinkable happens.

“What the…” the man outside the house picks up something from the ground and holds it up to the moonlight. It’s a twenty dollar bill. Shaw’s hand immediately goes to her pocket to stop the rest of the money from falling out but the damage is done and she can’t believe her misfortune. The guard snaps his head up just before she can reach the cover of the cars parked on the street and stares directly at her. They both freeze. The one thing Shaw can hope right now is that the hood from her jacket is covering her face enough so her identity remains a secret.

“Stop!” he yells and Shaw does the complete opposite of what he tells her to do. She runs, faster than she’s ever run in her life. She hears the front door open and the other four men join the chase. She should be paying attention to the streets she’s running down, but right now her priority is not getting caught.

“Put your gun away, idiot.” a man hisses.

 _Yes put your gun away idiot_.

“Hey! Stop!”

Not fucking likely. Shaw’s best option is to try and lose them in the nearby carpark and so she squeezes through the gated entrance, using her small frame to her advantage, and runs down a row of cars, stopping behind a black van and allowing herself a chance to breathe. A moment later, a padlock falls to the ground with a heavy clunk, and the men enter the carpark.

“Split up. He doesn’t leave here, do you understand?” she hears the same voice of the guy who told one of them to put their gun away. She now has three pieces of vital information that could save her life: that guy must be the leader, they think she’s a boy, and they’re armed with deadly weapons. She risks a glance at the entrance. Just like she expects them to, they’ve left one guy guarding her only way out, and split up to cover more ground to find her.

She would be impressed if they aren’t trying to capture her.

“If you surrender and give us back what you took, we’ll let you go.” a voice calls out nearby, closer than Shaw wants it to be. There’s no way that’s ever going to happen. She ducks past the van and ends up hiding behind a white car. She needs a new plan and fast. All she has to do is distract the guy by the entrance and she can escape. _But how?_

A massive clang echoes through the carpark and she sees the man pick up his gun from the floor, looking around anxiously for his boss.

At last something is going her way. The guy is obviously nervous, as he keeps walking back and forth whilst clutching his gun tighter than before. He exhales a loud breath and Shaw smirks. Time to have some fun.

She tiptoes her way down the row of cars closest to the entrance, and takes the some of the remaining bills out of her pocket. She waits for the wind to pick up slightly and lets three of them slip from her fingers. They float towards the man and land near his feet. He looks up at the sky, a confused expression on his face, and Shaw allows two more to escape her grasp.

“Come on take the bait, there’s a good boy.” Shaw whispers and clenches her fist in satisfaction as he starts to bend over and pick them up. As soon as he makes the move downwards, Shaw sprints from her hiding place and crashes into him with as much force as she can muster, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. He yelps in surprise and his gun clatters on the concrete. Shaw springs to her feet but he regains his composure and grabs the gun, whipping it around and pointing it directly at her.

“I’ll shoot!” he cries, and for a moment Shaw thinks she’s dead, but at a closer inspection the gun is shaking, and there’s an uncertainty in his voice. Shaw can hear his friends from deeper in the carpark coming closer. She doesn’t speak, afraid her voice will blow her cover, and instead she gives him a mock salute. He looks even more lost and confused, and Shaw turns, ignoring the man's protests, and runs out of the carpark. She sees someone walking in the opposite direction to the car park in the distance. They're too far way to call for help, and besides, round this neighbourhood they're more than likely to be a gang member. She tries to get her bearings but she's running down a street she doesn’t recognise at all.

_Shit._

She's not meant to be here. According to the plan, she should be miles away by now. According to the plan, she's definitely sure there isn't supposed to be five criminal thugs chasing after her.

Plans can go wrong, Sameen Shaw learns.

Turning a corner and leaping over a low cut wall, she spares a glance back. Two of the five are chasing after her directly but the other three are not to be seen. She curses and sprints down a dark alleyway. Usually going down an alleyway when people are hunting you down is a bad move, but Shaw's small enough to hide behind the garbage bags, and definitely smart enough to remain inconspicuous. She crouches and pulls her jacket closer to her. The black material of her clothing makes her almost invisible and she holds her breath as two pairs of footsteps run heavily past the entrance. She forces her breathing to even out slowly, but all she can hear is the thump of her own heartbeat in her head. Despite the danger she's in, the adrenaline pumping through her veins reminds her how much she actually loves doing this; breaking into places, stealing... the thrill of the chase.

After counting to a hundred, she dashes out of the alleyway and down another street, not daring to look back this time.

The plan is simple: get in to the house, unlock the safe, take the thing, get out, and run home. Security is supposed to be two guys who go on a smoke break like clockwork every hour. Easy really. Perhaps it is her complacency that proves her fatal mistake. Simple things she should’ve checked. Stupid. Fucking thing isn't even worth it. She feels for it in her jacket pocket, but when her hands grasp loose material she freezes. _Fuck. Where is it?_

With dread, she realises it must have fell out in the alleyway. Anger courses through her at all the mistakes she's making tonight. This is the worse mission she's been on in a while. She debates leaving it and returning for it tomorrow, but then the men could find it and her pride is too big to let that happen. No way is she going to let them get it back after everything she’s been through tonight. Sighing in annoyance she runs back to the alleyway, checking behind her every few minutes. As quietly as she can, she turns her phone flashlight on and roots through the garbage, scowling as her hand comes into contact with something sticky. Time ticks by quickly, and Shaw becomes more desperate with each second.

 _Finally._ She picks up the USB stick and makes sure to secure it in her pocket this time, along with her phone. Maybe her luck is finally turning around.

“Don’t move!” a voice calls from the entrance of the alleyway and she groans loudly.

She turns around and sees the same guy she tackled earlier. He looks angry now, gun pointing at her with conviction.

"I said don't move!" 

She raises her hands to show she's unarmed and he lowers his gun slightly. 

"Come here and don't try any funny business." 

 _Wouldn't dream of it._ She walks slowly forward, eyes scanning the alley for anything she can use to her advantage. Harder than it seems when you have a gun pointed at you. She is within five meters of his grasp when all of a sudden a ringing eminates from his pocket. He frowns and uses his free hand to pull his mobile phone out.

"Stay there and be quiet. This'll be my boss." he smiles and clicks answer. "Hello? Listen, sir- hello? Is anyone there?" 

Shaw shuffles back a few steps to put more distance between them as the man is distracted. She watches as he listens for a voice on the other end of the phone, but after twenty seconds of silence, he decides that the call must be an accident and hangs up.

"Come on-"

The phone rings.

They both stare at it, neither wanting to say anything. They look at the phone like it's a bomb with a limited number of seconds left on the timer; as soon as it stops ringing they can breathe again. 

Shaw nods towards the phone. The man scoffs. "I don't know okay? Now just-"

The phone rings again, but instead of a call it's a text alert. "What the fuck..." he opens it and stares at the message. He frowns. "Move. Follow me." he waves the gun in his direction and Shaw has no option but to follow or get shot, although with the way things are looking right now with the weird phone scenario, she's thinking of taking the latter. They both walk out of the alley, but as they turn the corner someone abruptly crashes into them. Shaw sticks her leg out as they stumble, tripping the man up, but steadying herself against the brick wall. The phone and the gun both fall to the ground and he scrambles, but stops when the stranger picks them both up before he can reach them.

"What's going on here?" 

Shaw frowns at the sweet voice and glances up at the origin. The stranger is a tall, brown haired girl with high cheekbones and doe-like eyes, and something about her seems oddly familiar.

"Nothing." he says quickly and stands up. 

"Doesn't seem like nothing." she smiles and stares at Shaw, trying to see her face. Shaw remains as silent as possible, fixing her hood over her head.

"Listen little girl you don't know what you're dealing with-"

"Kyle, right?" she says and he stares open-mouthed at her. "If I were you, I'd leave right now."

"And why would I do that?" he sneers.

The girl shrugs. "That's why." she is staring past Kyle's shoulder at an unmarked black van parked down the street, "Oh I think these are yours?" she shows the mobile and the gun to Kyle who is torn between looking at her and getting his weapon back, and the mysterious van. Shaw feels like screaming at the girl for giving him their only advantage over him, but she must have a plan right? Then again, why should Shaw put her life in the hands of a weird, albeit attractive, stranger?

(Not that she thinks the girl is hot. No way.)

(Okay maybe she's a little bit hot holding a gun.)

Kyle's decision is made for him when the doors of the van open and a man steps out, dressed in casual black clothing.

If Shaw can spot an undercover cop from here, she's pretty sure Kyle can too.

He grabs his gun and phone and makes a run for it. The cop sees him running and starts to chase after him, and the girl turns to Shaw.

"Listen, we were out for a stroll and this man tried to mug us. Got it?" she says quickly, and Shaw nods, confused as to why the girl would helping her. They don't even know each other. The cop gives up on trying to catch Kyle, who seems to be long gone, and jogs over to them.

"Are you girls alright?" he says.

"I'm so glad you were here." the girl's voice sounds nothing like it did three seconds ago: the confident demeanor is gone, replaced by a shaky, scared act. Shaw can't stop staring at her.

"You're welcome," he says, looking pleased with himself, "but I'm afraid I'm still going to have to ask you to come down to the station and give a statement." Shaw is about to protest, but before she can the girl subtly elbows her in the ribs.

"Okay, officer." she smiles shyly and the cop gestures for them to follow him.

"Do you mind lowering your hood? It just makes you easier to distinguish when we're in the station." he says and Shaw gingerly lowers her hood. The girl's smile turns into a full grin and Shaw's definitely sure the girl recoginses her. She must be from school then.

The ride to the station is short and quiet. The girl spends the entire ride looking at Shaw, but she refuses to look anywhere but out of the window. She fiddles with the USB stick in her pocket as they enter the station. The cop submits their details on a computer near the reception, and then takes them into a small room at the bottom of a corridor. The girl takes out her phone and types something quickly. Shaw cranes her neck to see what she's doing but she tilts the screen away from her. She scowls but gets a smile in return.

"I have to go back on duty now. Don't you get into anymore trouble!" the cop says lightheartedly and they both just stare at him. He coughs awkwardly and leaves them alone, shutting the door behind him. Shaw quickly takes in the room: there's a woman typing behind a desk, a cop sat reading a file, and then scattered around the room are different posters and leaflets about different types of negligence and criminal activity. Shaw thinks the one about breaking and entering looks like it would do nothing to stop her from stealing. The cop looks up from his file and tuts at them. Shaw takes an instant dislike to him. They sit down on blue plastic chairs, waiting for whoever was going to take their statements.

"I was watching you earlier. I saw you enter and leave the carpark," the girl whispers and Shaw recalls the person she saw walking in the distance outside. It's entirely possible it could be this girl. Shaw remains silent.

"You're Sameen right?" the girl asks and Shaw narrows her eyes. She's pretty sure they've never spoken at school (she'd remember talking to someone like that), but somehow the girl knows her name? Reputation means everything, Shaw thinks, and she's so glad hers is a negative one. If there's one thing Shaw's reputation is based on, it's her ability to ignore anyone and anything she wants, and she's so not going to give the girl the satisfaction of replying. Besides she'd never speak to her at school anyway. She hates school with a passion and barely gets through the day without wanting to murder anyone, including her closest friends. The girl doesn't seem to pick up on Shaw's attitude, or she does and chooses to ignore it.

"What were you doing in that alleyway, Sameen?" she tries again.

This time she can't help it, or ignore her, and she grimaces. "Shaw."

"What?"

"It's Shaw." she grumbles louder.

"Shaw." the girl tries her name out and it bugs Shaw how much the girl seems to be enjoying this very much one-sided conversation. She faces away, hoping the girl takes the hint.

"Aren't you going to ask me my name?"

"Not interested."

"I'm a very interesting person."

"I'm sure you are." There's a lull in the conversation and they both fall silent. Shaw watches as the cop walks to the desk, completely bypassing her and the girl, and speaks quietly to the woman behind the desk. She types something into the computer and the cop nods.

"You're going to find out just how interesting I am very soon." Shaw turns to the girl, who is watching the woman behind the computer with an odd expression. Almost like she is expecting the computer to burst into flames. Shaw frowns and curiosity gets the better of her.

"What's happening?" she eventually asks. The cop is getting more agitated by the second, gesticulating wildly at the woman, who is doing her best to find something on the computer.

"I'm Root by the way." The girl grins knowing she's got Shaw's attention, for the next couple of seconds anyway.

"Okay Root. Want to tell me what's going on?"

"It's a surprise." Root's grin gets wider and Shaw rolls her eyes.

"I don't like surprises."

"Everyone likes surprises!" Root seems personally offended.

"Not me." Shaw remembers once when John surprised her from behind a door and she had punched him in the face so quickly he didn't have time to defend himself. He had a black eye for at least two weeks, and told people he'd got it in a fight with a gang, rather than admit he foolishly made the mistake of trying to scare Sameen Shaw.

"I think you'll like this one."

Shaw rolls her eyes again and watches as the woman passes the cop a piece of paper. Before he can read it, an alarm blares out and Shaw tenses at the sudden sound. The cop storms out of the room, with the woman following closely behind, the two girls waiting to be processed seemingly forgotten. Root springs up from her chair and walks calmly to the computer, and starts typing as if this is a thing she did every day.

"Sweetie, would you mind being my lookout?" she says and Shaw's jaw tightens.

"What the hell?"

"I'm doing something illegal and I need to know if I'm going to get caught. So be a dear and look out."

"I'm guessing you caused this?" she replies and Root nods. Shaw can't really do anything until the alarm stops or Root steps back from behind the computer and neither seems likely to happen soon, so she approaches the window and looks down the main corridor. The cop from earlier is stood outside the door, clearly stopping anyone from entering. There are other cops running around trying to figure out the source of the alarm, but other than that, no one looks interested in coming into the room.

"It's clear for now." Shaw states and Root nods briefly, too focused on her work to speak to Shaw. "Aren't they going to see you doing that?" Shaw looks up at the security cameras in the corners of the room. Root doesn't even glance up from her typing.

"As far as they know we're sat on the chairs."

"You looped the feed." Shaw says and Root does look up this time.

"I'm impressed, Sameen." she smiles.

"It's not my first time." she replies and Root's smile gets wider.

"Interesting."

Shaw doesn't respond. Instead she checks out the window again, which is exactly when the alarm stops. The cop walks down the corridor and speaks to the woman from earlier. Then they both start walking towards the room. Shaw feels a shot of adrenaline shoot through her system. They're going to get caught.

"Root stop what you're doing they're coming," Shaw says quickly, but Root is still typing. "Root."

"I'm not finished." she pouts. Shaw would find it cute if they aren't in immediate danger.

"Well you're finished now." Shaw grabs Root by the wrist just as she quits a document on the desktop, and drags her back to their seats as the cop bursts through the door, followed closely by the woman. He looks at them suspiciously.

"What's happening officer?" Root says sweetly and Shaw does her best to remain stoic.

"Someone tripped the alarm and we had to sort it out. Not that it matters to a stupid girl like you," he sneers, "you wouldn't know what to do anyway."

"You're completely right." Root says and Shaw bites her lip.

"So let's process you first eh?" he points to Root, who stands up. "What did you do?"

"Nothing officer."

"They all say that." he scowls.

"Actually I think she's right," the woman says and looks up from the computer, "there's no arrest report on either of them." she clicks the mouse a few times then frowns, "There's nothing in the system tonight with descriptions matching two teenage girls either, innocent or otherwise. They must have been brought in here without the officer filing anything in the computer."

"Well they must have done something!" the cop says angrily and Shaw feels like hugging Root (if she is a hugger of course). She must have cleared their process reports the cop filled out when she was doing whatever she was doing on the computer.

"Why are you here?" the woman asks.

"We were out for a walk and this guy sprung out at us, but before anything could happen, a cop showed up and saved us. Then he brought us to this room and you know the rest." Root lies effortlessly.

"Well there's no reason for you to be here unless there's something you want to report yourselves..." They shake their heads quickly and the woman starts fretting over them as Root puts on her best innocent look and Shaw forces a shy smile. She tells them they can leave as soon as they collect their belongings from the box on her desk. They go through it, both taking stuff that's not theirs, and Shaw raises an eyebrow as Root snatches up a pocket knife. She winks at Shaw and after Shaw finds the USB stick, they leave the room. Cops stare but Shaw just shrugs at them.

"Turns out there was a mix up!" Root laughs and Shaw pulls her out of the station before she does something stupid.

"Don't look back until we're at least two streets away," Shaw murmurs, "we don't need any more attention on ourselves."

"You're worried about me, how sweet." Root replies and Shaw starts walking at a quicker pace, so Root has to scramble to catch up.

"How can I get you to shut up and never speak to me again?" Shaw groans as Root catches up to her in no time, her short legs clearly no match for Root's long ones.

"Buy me dinner?" Root says, but it sounds like more of a statement than a question. "And we'll call it even and I won't speak to you again... if you don't want me to of course."

"Buy you dinner? That's it? Then you'll never speak to me again? Deal." Shaw says quickly and Root smiles lopsidedly at her.

"It's a date."

"Fuck off."

"Harsh."

"Deal with it."

"Don't worry I'm not upset..." Root begins and Shaw raises an eyebrow. "I like it rough."

Shaw suppresses a smirk, and then her stomach grumbles. Perfect. She manages to escape the guys chasing her, then not get arrested by just being a look out, and settle her bargain with Root, all in one night. "Hungry now?"

"Sameen if you wanted to date me this badly you should have said earlier."

Ignoring Root's reply she explains there's a diner not too far from here that makes the most amazing steak and Root laughs at Shaw's excited demeanor as she explains her ideal steak. Shaw figures talking about meat would distract Root from her incessant flirting, but she underestimates how much Root is enjoying listening to her speak.

After another five minutes of walking, in which Root did not shut up about how great they were as a team (there's only so much you can say about meat before it gets repetitive) Shaw drags her into a dingy 24/7 hour diner. There's only two people in there; a blonde waitress behind the counter, and a man dressed in shabby clothes, sipping a coffee and scrolling through his phone. He lays a large hand protectively over a small package on the table after putting his phone down, and fiddles with the package's wrappings. Neither of them pays any attention to Shaw and Root as they walk in, which is one of the many reasons Shaw picks this place- there's no questions asked as to why two teenage girls would be out on their own at almost midnight on a Sunday. Plus no-one from school would ever catch her having dinner with Root here, so she is safe from having to explain that one away.

Shaw slides into a seemingly random booth. Root stalls and stares at the empty seats considering the options, so Shaw takes her jacket off and places it on the seat next to her. Root smirks at her and takes the only available seat opposite Shaw.

The blonde waitress approaches their table and asks them in a monotone voice what they want. Shaw orders a burger with fries, and Root tells her to make that two. The waitress makes a note of the order and returns with two glasses of Diet Coke, setting them down on the table. Root raises her eyebrow as she distinctly remembers not ordering drinks.

"I've been here a lot." Shaw explains.

"I can see why."

"Hmm?" Shaw is intrigued; the diner isn't exactly the cleanest, and Root surely doesn't have any idea as to why Shaw chose this particular diner- after all, she'd only known her for one night.

Root drops her voice to barely above a whisper, so Shaw leans in slightly. "Well the location of this diner is approximately between the rough area downtown, and the upper class establishment over the river, making it an ideal location to hide from either side. In addition to that," Root's words are layered in excitement, "this is the sort of place that people don't ask questions. That guy over there," she nods in the direction of the man, "he was texting someone about a pickup deal on his phone when we walked in, I know because I glanced at it, so I assume that package he keeps fiddling with contains drugs or other substances."

Shaw only stares at Root, waiting for her to continue.

"That waitress has the tattoo of a local cartel on her right wrist, so she's not going to ask any questions if someone did want to hide here, as long as you weren't on a rival gang's side. You deliberately chose this seat so you can see the front door clearly, but also be close enough to the kitchens which I assume have a back door for deliveries, and so you could escape through that." Apparently satisfied with her answer, she picks up her drink and takes a large gulp.

"Or I could just really like the steak." Shaw smirks. Shaw doesn't acknowledge whether Root is right or not, because by Shaw's sarcastic reply, Root knows she's right. There's nothing more satisfying to Root than a woman with a plan, and then a back up plan with an escape route. They both fall into comfortable silence whilst they finish their meals. Shaw steals a few fries from Root's plate, and Root finds it too adorable to stop her.

"So why were you in the alleyway?" Root asks and takes a sip of her drink.

"What's it to you?" Shaw takes the last big bite of her burger and wipes her face and hands with a napkin.

"Just making conversation is all." Root says casually, but she knows the question is anything but casual. Shaw quickly weighs up the pros and cons.

(Pros: she leaves her alone after this and the debt is settled so there's really no reason not to.

Cons: speaking to Root.)

"I stole something and there were guys chasing me. I managed to shake them all off apart from one." she says and Root's eyes light up at the success of getting Shaw to speak.

"So you stole something but got caught?" Root bites her lip to stop herself from smiling. Shaw glares at her.

"How did you know that guy's name anyway? And what was going on with his phone?..." Shaw trails off as she realises Root is looking expectantly at her.

"Phones are easier to hack than you think." Root says, and Shaw's suspicions are confirmed. She remembers Root tapping on her own phone before they entered the room, and so she must have done something to set off the alarm with that. _So this girl is hot and smart._ Shaw almost feels like this girl could be worth more of her time.

"What about you?" she changes the topic.

"What?"

"Why were you there? It's not exactly the best place to go for a midnight stroll."

Root puts down her food. "I needed to get into the police records system."

"So that's what you were doing on the computer?"

"I needed to check what the police had on me, among other things."

"Other things?"

"Oh Sameen," her eyes are loaded with mischief, "if I tell you all my secrets I'll lose my air of mystery."

Shaw crosses her arms and sits back in her seat. "So I'm not allowed to know why you made me be your look out?"

Root smiles. "I didn't make you do anything, Shaw."

She locks her jaw in annoyance, knowing Root is right. A sudden thought comes to her. "How did you know the cop was going to be there outside the alley?"

"They got an anonymous tip that a drug deal was going down in the vicinity tonight. Lucky right?" Root replies, and Shaw knows it's anything but luck.

"So your plan was to what? Throw a brick into his car window and get yourself arrested in order to use the computers?" Shaw says and Root laughs. That stupid angelic laugh.

"No, I was going to tell him I'd seen a crime, and as a concerned citizen I wanted to report it," Shaw rolls her eyes at that comment, "then I saw you were in a bit of trouble and decided to help."

"Because you're a concerned citizen."

"Because I'm a concerned citizen," she says, and Shaw nods at the waitress, who comes over and takes their empty plates. Shaw reaches into her pocket, pulls out a twenty and throws it on the table. Grabbing her jacket, she slides out of the booth and Root follows her quickly. "Thank you for paying sweetie."

"Wasn't my money anyway." Shaw smirks, and the brisk cold of the outside hits them as they leave the diner and head for the main city.

"Is that what you were stealing?" Root asks, and Shaw thinks about saying yes and leaving it at that but for some reason she feels like she doesn't want to let this conversation end yet.

"That and other things..."

"Other things?"

"Now if I told you, I'd lose my _air of mystery_ wouldn't I?" Shaw echoes Root's previous words and Root shakes her head in amusement.

"I had a nice time tonight, Sameen." Root stops walking and Shaw turns to face her.

"As nights go it was certainly eventful," she says, wondering what Root's angle is. "but I live near here so unless you're going my way, I guess this is goodbye." She doesn't miss the slightly disappointed look appear on Root's face. Root nods and Shaw goes to turn away, but before she can Root leans in close and plants a light kiss on Shaw's cheek. She freezes as Root smiles in her retreat, but then scowls, rubbing the spot with her hand where the kiss still lingers. Root gives her a sly smile and walks away without even looking back.

"See you in school Shaw." she calls and the corner of Shaw's mouth twitches into a smile.

Perhaps school will be interesting tomorrow after all.


	2. girl, I'm so glad we're acquainted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaw refuses to talk to her, instead letting Root sit there in silence when she looks like she wants to ask Shaw so many questions. As much as she wants to ask Root about the police station, she knows Root will ask her about the alley and so they're both stuck in some sort of awkward limbo, only speaking when passing homework from the teacher or discussing school work in class.

As always on a Monday morning, Shaw wakes up before her alarm. She opens her curtains and stretches her arms, exercising her limbs and waking up from a drowsy sleep. She pulls on her running gear and leaves her bedroom, treading carefully as so not to wake up the person sleeping in the room next to hers. She's made that mistake once.

She ties her shoelaces and quietly leaves the house, jogging down a familiar route. The sun is yet to rise on New York City, just the way Shaw prefers her morning run. She enjoys the way her feet hit the ground and the adrenaline pumps through her veins.

Shaw's mind wanders to the events of the previous night. Now that she thinks about it, she has seen Root around school since it started three weeks ago, but only in passing. The library when returning a book; coming out of the girls toilet; leaving a classroom close to hers. She tries to recall if Root is actually in any of her lessons but despite her almost perfect memory, she realises that school's bored her so much since it started, she's not really paid attention in lessons; choosing to sit right at the back whenever possible and staring out of the window for the most of it. So it's entirely possible Root could be in her classes.

The thought doesn't creep her out as much as it should. At least that way, she'll be able to find out exactly why Root needed to get on the police system.

It takes her exactly thirty-seven minutes to complete her route (she knows because she's timed it to perfection) and she arrives home in time to have a shower and get ready for school. She quietly walks back downstairs but the other occupant of the house is already up, putting two slices of bread in the toaster.

"That for me?" Shaw says and walks into the kitchen.

Her mother rolls her eyes, "Get your own."

Shaw smirks and reaches for the bread just as her phone vibrates in her pocket. She takes it out and stares at the screen, frowning.

 **Unknown [07:45]:** _guess who_

She doesn't bother replying, not in the mood for guessing games or wrong numbers, and instead chooses to delete the message and enjoy her breakfast. She swings her rucksack over her shoulder, waves her mother goodbye, and starts walking to school. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she puts her songs on shuffle and is about to slide it in her pocket again when it buzzes.

 **Unknown [08:12]:** _come on shaw, play the game_

What the....

 **Shaw [08:13]:** _do I know you?_  
**Unknown [08:13]:** _we're acquainted yes_

It takes her three seconds to figure it out.

 **Shaw [08:14]:** _fuck off root_  
**Unknown [08:17]:** _:(_

She rolls her eyes, but she can't help the smile creep upon her face.

 **Shaw [08:20]:** _how did you get this number?_  
**Unknown [08:21]:** _zoe gave it to me... we're actually in a few classes together, and it was surprisingly easy to get when I told her what happened yesterday_

(If Root is in Zoe's classes that means she's definitely in a couple of Shaw's.)

 **Shaw [08:21]:** _you told her what????_  
**Unknown [08:21]:** _relax sweetie_  
**Shaw [08:21]:** _I'm like the opposite of relaxed_  
**Shaw [08:23]:** _and don't call me sweetie_  
**Shaw [08:26]:** _root??_  
**Unknown [08:28]:** _you look good_

Shaw snaps her head up from her phone to see Root standing in the school carpark, leaning against a signpost. She smiles and Shaw scowls.

"Not funny." Shaw says and walks past Root, who joins her by her side, matching Shaw's strides easily.

"You know you love it really."

"Yeah I love it like I love an intestinal parasite."

Root laughs, "Nice simile Shaw. Also now you have my number in your phone for any future bail out of jail scenarios."

A few people glance up at them as Root says that, but Shaw gives them a hard stare and they look away or down at their feet.

"Keep it down yeah? I don't need to give the Principal an excuse to call me into her office again." Shaw grumbles and holds open a door for Root to go through first.

"Don't tell me you're on Control's bad side." Root gasps in mock surprise. Shaw smiles at the nickname that their Principal is otherwise known as, due to her tenacious grip on how she runs the school. Shaw's been dragged into her office on number of occasions recently. Usually she likes to keep out of trouble at school, for her sake and her mom's, and only involving herself in situations outside of school, but lately she seems to be spending more time in detention and Control's office than she'd like.

And that is because of one Mr Greer.

Greer joined the school as the main politics and history teacher before the summer semester, and has made it his number one priority to annoy Shaw as much as possible. Control was equally as annoyed to find Shaw outside her office so many times in the beginning, but has now realised Greer is sending her there for the most stupid or mundane reasons, and she usually lets Shaw sit there and do work until the bell rings for the next lesson. There is one positive of spending so much time with Control; her reputation in the school gained track very quickly, and she is now mostly ignored by people she'd never talk to anyway, and friendly with the other students who care extremely little about the establishment.

"Depends whether she's in a nice mood or not." she replies and Root steps towards the classroom Shaw has her first lesson of the day in. Shaw raises an eyebrow as Root follows her inside. Root makes no comment, instead sitting down on the chair behind the desk closest to the door in the top right corner of the classroom, and Shaw finds her seat right at the back near the window on the left.

It's funny how you can notice someone a lot more when you start to get to know them.

Shaw finds this out very quickly. A day doesn't go by in the first week since she met Root that she doesn't bump into her or at least see her someplace.

To start with, she finds out Root is definitely in some of her classes, including a few of her AP ones. To her annoyance, Root has started to move desks in some of their lessons and ending up next to Shaw. Shaw refuses to talk to her, instead letting Root sit there in silence when she looks like she wants to ask Shaw so many questions. As much as she wants to ask Root about the police station, she knows Root will ask her about the alley and so they're both stuck in some sort of awkward limbo, only speaking when passing homework from the teacher or discussing school work in class.

One time Root asks her if she has a spare pen as she lost hers, but Shaw is pretty sure she sees Root slip a pen into her bag at the start of the lesson.

She gives her one anyway.

(She tries not to pick up on Root's smile.)

She observes Root wanders the school a lot on her own, and doesn't eat in the cafeteria like the others do. On Thursday, she notices Root walking next to Harold, and they both stop outside the cafeteria before he says goodbye and walks towards the table where Shaw, John and Carter are sat. Root remains leaning against a wall, typing on her phone. Before Harold can greet them all, Shaw casually mentions seeing him talking to Root.

"Miss Groves? Yes, we're friends I suppose," Harold says and Shaw pretends to remain having just a vague interest in the topic, "she calls me Harry." Harold rolls his eyes, but there's a fondness in his voice.

"What class is this?" Shaw says.

"It's the computer programming class I'm taking. It's actually extremely interesting, we're learning how to apply different algorithms to our coding..." Harold starts ranting about the topic and Shaw tunes him out, but makes sure to nod or grunt in the appropriate places. She'd do anything for Harold, including breaking the law (as she has done in the past) but the man could talk all day about his beloved machines, and it isn't exactly what Shaw finds thrilling. Instead, she stares at Root, taking in the small details like the curve of her nose or the waves in her hair. Suddenly, Root glances up and makes direct eye contact with Shaw. A grin appears on her face and Shaw narrows her eyes.

"...but Miss Groves is spectacular at actually understanding why the computer uses-"

"What was that?" Shaw's attention snaps back to Harold.

"Were you not paying attention to me?" Harold says and John coughs subtly. She scowls at him.

"What?"

"Something else had Shaw's attention." John replies, the corners of his mouth twitching with amusement. Shaw wants to punch that expression right off his stupid face.

"Shut up." she grumbles and she knows John saw her watching Root that entire time. Great.

"Good comeback Shaw."

"How's it going with Zoe these days anyway?" Shaw smirks, deciding to throw John's so far unsuccessful attempts at asking Zoe Morgan out back in his face, and John leans back, crossing his arms.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" he says and nods to someone behind Shaw. She hears two people approach their table, and Zoe slips into the seat next to John. He smiles smugly at Shaw and then turns to Zoe, asking about her classes. Despite the teasing, Shaw hopes John asks Zoe out soon, before someone else does. She makes him happy and Shaw would rather Zoe date him than the previous knucklehead she dated from the football team. Not that she cares.

The other person that came with Zoe sits next to her, and Shaw immediately knows who it is before they even speak. "How's it going, sweetie?"

Shaw spins around and faces Root. "I told you not to call me that."

"And I told you that I know you enjoy it really."

"Does this look like I'm enjoying it?"

"There's other things I can do that I'm sure you'll _enjoy_." Root eyes are smouldering and Shaw is scowling, but both of them notice the abrupt silence on the table. Shaw tears her eyes from Root's and picks at her food, silently wishing she is anywhere but there. John is doing that stupid expression again and even Harold is staring at them with wide eyes. Root starts tapping on her phone again, presumably continuing with what she was doing earlier, but stands up and tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"I have to go, but nice seeing you all." Root says, talking to the whole table, but glancing precisely in Shaw's direction every so often.

"You should come eat lunch with us!" Zoe says and Root looks at her, not quite believing what she's saying.

"I don't really-"

"Come on Root. We're friends, you and Harold do nerdy computer things together, and it seems like you know Shaw..." Zoe smiles, leaving the last bit hanging in the air, but Root still hesitates. Shaw realises she probably doesn't want to intrude on her friendship group or whatever. What an idiot. She turns and faces Root, who from Shaw's angle seems extremely tall.

"Yeah you should." she grumbles but it's enough for Root, who accepts Zoe's invitation and leaves, promising to stop by tomorrow. Shaw watches her leave and then faces the group again.

"Wow you've got it bad." John whistles. Shaw throws her apple at him, and laughs when it hits him in the arm hard when he lifts it to protect his face. He refuses to talk to Shaw for the rest of the day, but when he offers to give Shaw a lift home after school in his car, she knows that they're okay.

"I would but I've got to see Greer about tomorrow night's detention. Apparently Control has convinced him to cancel it but we'll see." she grimaces and John gives her a small pat on her shoulder before running after Harold and Carter who are making their way to his car.

She walks through the school corridors, looking forlornly at the students rushing home, and approaches Greer's main classroom on the second floor. He is rubbing something out on the old fashioned chalk board he insisted they install, and puts down the eraser when he senses her approaching.

"You're late." he says in that stupid British accent she's come to dread hearing.

She glances at the clock. She's only two minutes past the scheduled meeting time after the bell. What a prick. She clenches her jaw.

"Class ran over a bit." she explains, but she knows it's a flimsy excuse.

He nods slowly, and starts putting papers into a patchy brown briefcase. It looks as old as he does and Shaw smirks with some satisfaction as he struggles to close the lock.

"Looks like you need a new one."

He stares at her with dull eyes and blinks. Everything he does is with purpose, extremely slow and calculated. Shaw hates it. She hates everything he does. He makes girls in her class almost cry with the way he speaks to them, he blatantly ignores the bullying from the bigger boys, and most of all, Shaw hates it when he marks her work down just because she says something he doesn't agree with. It's like he has to have all the power, and no one else is allowed to be right. The whole reason she is supposed to be having detention with him tomorrow night is because Harold challenged him over a government programme fact earlier on in lesson. Despite the fact that Greer is the teacher who has studied the curriculum inside out, and Harold is just a young boy, Shaw immediately took Harold's side and believed everything he said, and then defended him against Greer. Greer didn't take very kindly to this, ergo the detention.

"Perhaps I do. Anyway, your detention with me tomorrow has been cancelled, for reasons I am not at liberty to say. Enjoy your night off Miss Shaw. Spend it wisely." Greer says and leaves the classroom, swinging his briefcase with his hand. Shaw silently celebrates. Now her Friday night is free, she can go to John's and hang out with the rest of the team straight after school! Finally, things are going her way.

She starts making her way out of the school, choosing to take a detour past the computer block on the first floor to stare at the picture pinned up on a cork board outside Harold's computer programming class. She loves that picture: her and John have their arms around Harold's shoulders, leaning into him tightly. He is holding a trophy from a national math competition he won, and smiling brightly. The whole board is covered with different school accomplishments, but her eyes are always drawn to that image. She scans the board for any new additions, and with a jolt she sees Root standing with a group of four boys. They're crowded around a laptop and the article underneath the photo says 'Samantha Groves and her classmates (named below) rise to fame after she leads a team designing one of the most complex computer codes seen by scientists in a decade!' Woah. Shaw knows Root is smart, but that smart? Well she did hack into that guy's phone in the alley, and then the police system. But really? A decade?

She is about to walk downstairs and onto the ground floor when she hears a scuffle coming from the other end of the first floor corridor. Out of curiosity, she glances round the corner.

Her heart skips a beat. Root is surrounded by three big, burly football players, clutching her books tightly. She looks behind her quickly. There's no-one around to see what is going on; everyone has already gone home for the day. A football player steps forward menacingly and before Shaw can do anything, he pushes Root hard and she slams against the lockers, her books spilling out of her hands and clattering to the floor. Shaw rushes from her spot and makes her entrance loud, shutting an open locker door with a bang. They all jump at the sudden sound, and Root looks at her with so much hope in her eyes. Shaw nods at her quickly, urging her to remain calm. She'll get her out of this.

"What's going on here boys?" Shaw says clearly, staring the biggest one right in his eyes. He falters in his step towards Root. _Come on come closer,_ Shaw thinks, _away from Root that's it_ , as he puffs up his chest and approaches Shaw. She curls her right hand into a fist and he glances down at it and swallows thickly. Clearly apprehensive about her and what she's capable of, he stops moving, instead choosing to stand and sneer as aggressively as possible. Shaw knows this type of guy inside out; more brawn than brains. Luckily, Shaw has both, and it's the only reason that her and Root will get out of this unhurt. Well that's if Root is okay after the shove against the lockers. She makes a mental note to check her out for injuries later. The other two goons turn away from Root as well and stand behind the other guy.

"It's none of your business short stack." he says and his friends chuckle.

"Real clever making fun of my height," Shaw says and he frowns, wondering if she's complimenting or offending him. She decides to make that clearer and says, "Although I've been told I'm not as small as how tiny your dick is."

It takes him two seconds to process her words, and he roars with anger and rushes towards her. She stands strong, light on the balls of her feet, and punches him as hard as she can with her right fist. She makes contact with his nose and he goes sprawling onto the floor. His two friends immediately back away from Shaw and lean over his groaning body. She runs to Root and picks her books up, shoving them into Root's bag, ignoring the throbbing pain in her knuckles.

"Shaw?" Root mumbles and now Shaw's worried she's got a fucking concussion or something but she needs Root to be as alert as possible.

"Listen, we've got about thirty seconds to get out of here before he recovers and they come after us. Come on, up you get." she explains and hauls Root to her feet. They jog down the stairs and Root turns to go out of the front door, but Shaw grabs her hand and drags her past the entrance and into a janitor's supply closet. It's extremely dark and stuffy in there and Shaw is hyper aware of Root's body pressed close to hers. They're also still holding hands. Shaw's is sweaty and so she drops it and wipes it against her jeans.

"What are we doing? Shouldn't we be leaving?" Root whispers and Shaw tenses. She's practically inches away from her face and she can barely breathe without Root knowing about it.

"That's the first place they're going to look for us. When they leave we'll go through the side door onto the football field, and leave that way." she whispers back and Root is about to reply when they hear shoes squeaking on the polished school floors and bodies running. They stop directly outside their hiding place. Root tenses this time and Shaw doesn't know what compels her to do it, but she grasps Root's hand again and squeezes it in reassurance. Root squeezes back and Shaw swallows nervously.

"What a bitch I'm gonna kill her." a voice grunts, but it sounds weird like something is restricting his breathing.

"Dude I think she broke your nose." another voice says and Root has to stifle a gasp. Shaw's eyes have adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she can make out Root's features in the faint light spilling in from the cracks under the door. She smiles at Shaw. The boys start walking away from their location, and the tight feeling in Shaw's chest that she has since seeing Root being pushed over evaporates and she exhales a breath she doesn't realise she is holding.

Root shuffles back, allowing more space between them and breaking the hand contact, "You know what's funny?"

"Geology?" Shaw says dryly and Root does that thing with her head where she leans it to the right and gives Shaw a look of annoyance mixed with something else she can't quite place. Not that Shaw keeps track of these expressions of course. It's just that Root is really hard not to look at when she's near you. That's all. She's aesthetically pleasing.

(Shaw really really likes looking at Root when she's like this.)

(She's infuriating.)

"Surprisingly, no. It's just ironic I'm hidden in this closet considering I spent all my life being out it."

"Funny." Shaw says and Root watches for a reaction. Shaw raises an eyebrow, "What? Were you expecting me to throw a rainbow over your head as congratulations?"

"Rude. And no... just thought you might be interested."

"Interested in you or interested in knowing you're gay?"

"Either, neither....doesn't bother me."

"Bullshit."

"Sameen?" she says her name playfully, eyes glistening with humour.

"No offence but you're not exactly subtle about it."

"Mmm I know," Root smiles, "it's so fun to mess with you."

Shaw glares at her and pushes past her to listen to the outside, "I think they've gone."

Root nods and Shaw pushes the door open gingerly. They're nowhere to be seen and so Shaw steps out of the closet, Root following closely behind. They walk quietly out of the school, checking every so often for anyone that might attack them.

"Where do you live?" Shaw says and Root raises an eyebrow, "I'm going to walk you home incase they come back again."

"You don't need to do that." Root says quickly.

"Yeah I do, look at your arms, there's no muscle you'd be useless in a fight." Shaw quirks.

"Hey!" Root protests but then starts laughing, "besides I don't need to fight. I have you for that, my knight in shining armour."

"Fuck off. You should be lucky I was in the right place at the right time. Why were they doing that to you anyway?" Shaw's hand accidentally bumps into Root's and she suddenly recalls the way it felt to hold it in the janitor's closet. Root starts walking towards the new houses that were upgraded last year. Shaw is surprised at how far they've actually walked. It seems like they've only been together for two minutes.

"I was finishing some work and ran into them. They thought they could bully me into doing a class project for them, but I refused. And well you know the rest. Why were you there after school?"

"Greer was going to give me detention tomorrow night but I think Control convinced him to cut me some slack for once. Now I can go to John's instead of being stuck in a classroom with him for an hour." Shaw looks at the approaching houses and feels extremely uncomfortable. This is normally where the rich and upper class live in the city, and Shaw's discomfort is partly due to the fact she's definitely not perceived well by the occupants of these houses if they meet her, and partly due to the fact she's a hundred percent sure she's robbed one of these houses before. What is Root doing living in a place like this? All of the houses have perfect lawns and a stereotypical suburban look to them. She even notices a Lamborghini parked on the driveway of the house next to the one Root is walking up to. Root notices her hesitation.

"What's wrong?"

"Er, I'm not really familiar with a place like this. It usually doesn't end well for people like me." she says and Root nods, understanding her slight resentment towards the area. They arrive at Root's front door and turn to face each other.

"Well I'm not like that I promise."

"Did you rob a bank or something? It costs like a million bucks to live here." she jokes but she really wouldn't put it past Root.

"No, my mom is CEO of a successful company."

Shaw exhales, "So she's like super rich?"

"Yeah I guess so." Root says, and Shaw starts to get an uncomfortable vibe coming from her as well. It seems like Root really doesn't like talking about her mother. Huh.

"Well anyway I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Root says, and just like she did the last time they were alone outside of school, she leans in and gives Shaw a kiss on the cheek before Shaw can react. She groans in annoyance as Root smirks.

""You've got to stop doing that." she grumbles.

"Why? It's fun." Root laughs and enters her house without another word.

Shaw just stands there frozen to the spot, the place where Root kisses her tingles. The cold wind ruffles her hair and her lips are slightly open. All of a sudden, her phone buzzes and she takes it out with numb fingers.

 **Root [16:45]:** _if you stand there any longer you'll catch a cold_  
**Root [16:45]:** _and I can't kiss you if you have a cold_

Shaw smirks and shakes her head. She walks away from Root's house and her phone vibrates again.

 **Root [16:45]:** _look up_

She stops and glances behind her. Root is stood behind a window on the top floor waving at her. She rolls her eyes.

 **Shaw [16:46]:** _nerd_  
**Root [16:46]:** _:(_  
**Shaw [16:46]:** _:)_  
**Root [16:47]:** _thank you btw. i didn't know what was going to happen. im glad you were there_  
**Shaw [16:47]:** _stay out of trouble and maybe i wouldn't have to rescue your ass_  
**Root [16:48]:** _spend a lot of time thinking about my ass, shaw?_  
**Shaw [16:50]:** _you know that one was almost too easy_  
**Root [16:51]:** _oh I'm anything but easy_  
**Shaw [16:51]:** _oh really?_  
**Root [16:51]:** _;)_

Shaw doesn't know how, but she spends the entire night texting back and forth with Root.

Maybe she's not as bad as she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so my laptop broke and I lost a lot of my planning for this but I finally got my motivation back and here's another chapter!


	3. she told me you'll never be alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's an instant rush and a scraping of stools as people scramble to find their partner. Out of the corner of her eye she sees John smirk at her, then turn to partner up with Carter. Shaw knows exactly why he did that instead of them insisting they work as a three like they always do. Almost on cue, Root leans over again.
> 
> "Partners?"
> 
> Shaw sighs, "Partners."

The next day Shaw wakes up and immediately knows something is wrong. She rolls over in bed and glances at the clock. _Shit_.

It's flashing 1:01am repeatedly, they must have had a power cut during the night, and now her alarm hasn't gone off. Apprehensively she turns on her phone and panic grips her as she sees she has about twenty minutes to get ready and go to school. She yanks the covers back and undresses quickly, throwing her bed clothes on the floor. There's absolutely no way she's going to be ready in time. She pulls on a shirt and her jeans. She has time to quickly run a comb through her hair and brush her teeth, then runs down the stairs. Shaw has to leave the breakfast left on a plate for her by her mom, and she makes a mental note to send her a message thanking her later. Speaking of messages, she pulls out her phone and clicks on the most recent contact in her texts.

 **Shaw [8:40]:** _im gonna be late, save me a seat_  
**Root [8:41]:** _it's bio, you refused to sit next to me remember because john and joss are sat in front of you and you didn't want to move from them_  
**Shaw [8:41]:** _oh well my seat will probably be taken anyway so just save me one and tell mr grice ill be late_  
**Root [8:42]:** _whatever you want sweetie_  
**Root [8:42]:** _:)_

She doesn't bother replying to tell Root to cut out the sweetie thing. Besides it's kind of growing on her, but there's no way Root will ever find that out. Over her dead body.

She's ten minutes late of course, no matter how fast she can run from her house, stumbling through the door just as Mr Grice is lifting a test tube filled with a murky green liquid from a water incubator. He raises an eyebrow.

"Sorry sir." Shaw grumbles and finds the empty seat next to Root. Carter and John are sat at the back of the class where she would normally sit with them giving her confused but supportive looks. She feels the red hot stares from her other classmates like daggers on her back, but she ignores them and looks at the test tube in the teacher's hand so intensely it could explode.

"So as you can see the reaction has taken place and we can assume that the rate was affected by the temperature..." Mr Grice continues with his lesson as if nothing happened and Shaw is grateful. That's ten times better than what Greer would have done; knowing him, he'd have tried to embarrass her in front of everyone, then realise Shaw doesn't get embarrassed, and send her out instead. Prick.

Root leans in and whispers in Shaw's ear, "How's the hand?"

"What?" Shaw's too distracted by Root's mouth being too close to her face to understand what she's saying.

"Your hand. You know, after the punching you did yesterday. Or have you forgot already?" she smiles.

To be completely honest, Shaw didn't really think much about her hand after she did the whole punching thing, and was too busy at work and doing homework last night (and thinking about Root kissing her on the cheek and Root texting her emojis and Root flirting with her and Root demanding Shaw get a Snapchat or whatever it's called just so she could send her pictures of her stupid cat). Then this morning she was too busy rushing around so she didn't miss school. As if through the power of just thinking about it, her knuckles start to tingle and she looks down at them. They're red and purple all over and her middle one looks particularly swollen. She wiggles her fingers and suddenly, Root reaches over and gently holds her hand to get a better look at her injury. The tingling increases, but Shaw's not entirely sure that's because of her knuckles anymore.

"Well you look better than he does." Root seems satisfied Shaw's injury isn't life threatening and drops her hand.

"Have you seen him this morning then?" Shaw doesn't know what to do with her empty hand so she just rests it on her thigh.

"Yeah, he was walking to the other lab past this one and his nose has a bandage on it. I think you did really break it." Root is delighted at this fact, but before Shaw can reply Mr Grice stops talking and looks pointedly at them.

"Something you wish to share ladies?"

"No." they say at the same time.

"Then keep it quiet yeah? Or at least wait until I set you on your next task," Mr Grice puts the test tube into a tube rack and then picks up a piece of paper, "okay now we've finished with that, it's time for your first joint group project of the semester." He shushes the groans that immediately come from the class and looks down at the paper, "I'm going to be nice and let you pick your partner."

There's an instant rush and a scraping of stools as people scramble to find their partner. Out of the corner of her eye she sees John smirk at her, then turn to partner up with Carter. Shaw knows exactly why he did that instead of them insisting they work as a three like they always do. Almost on cue, Root leans over again.

"Partners?"

Shaw sighs, "Partners."

"I'm so glad you said so. We make such a good team." Root grins and Shaw rolls her eyes.

"Now you've all found partners I can see the majority of you have gone for a friend. Good luck with that, cause this is worth fifteen percent of your final grade."

Mr Grice has to quash the protests by yelling over the top of them, "So don't mess this up! Details are on this sheet I'm passing round, it's due a month from now. I expect this to be done to a high quality and I hope you spend more time than lessons on it. That means spending weekends together until you've got the sufficient data to complete it."

The idea of spending her spare time and weekends with Root isn't one she would exactly prefer, but there's no changing partners now. Also, Root's very smart and Shaw welcomes the prospect of actually working with someone of her own intelligence for once. Biology is one of her best subjects, and she spends many nights doing projects on her own due to her natural gift of memorising scientific content. She'd make a great doctor one day, she's always thought, if she maybe dealt with emotions better. People are so emotional these days, and Shaw neither has the time or patience to deal with it. Just do your job and move on.

"I hope you like pizza." Root says and takes the paper from Mr Grice as he hands them round the class.

"Why?" Shaw says slowly.

"Because we might as well start as soon as possible, and it's what I'm ordering tonight."

"But-"

"Meet you after school, outside the janitor's closet near the entrance. I think you're familiar with it?" Root smirks.

Shaw scowls, but she feels like there's no way of getting out of this so she nods, "Okay, but I've got plans to go to John's later on so we'll have to be quick."

"Great! Now we have to come up with our hypothesis." Root passes the worksheet to Shaw who quickly scans the page. The experiment is measuring the effect of exercise on blood pressure and heart rate, a classic science experiment she's done a million times before. Except this time, they've got to produce an essay explaining everything, as well as finding time to conduct the experiment, and do a PowerPoint summarising the key points of their findings.

"So I'm right in assuming you'll be doing the exercise, and I'll be recording the results?" Root says, writing something down in her notebook, and Shaw cocks her head to the side. Time to have fun.

"If you wanted to see me all hot and sweaty, Root, there's another way to find out." she says nonchalantly and Root's mouth drops open slightly, but then she recovers.

"If I wanted to see you hot and sweaty all I have to do is lean in like..." she moves into Shaw's personal space and her mouth is right next to the shell of Shaw's ear, "...this." she exhales the last word so Shaw can feel her breath on her neck and jaw and she snaps her head back, pushing Root away with her good hand. Root laughs at her reaction and continues to write notes as if nothing has happened and Shaw isn't sat there clenching her jaw.

If Shaw blushes, she totally would be right now.

The rest of the lesson passes without incidence however, and Shaw feels like they've assembled some plan and method for their project that they can both agree on.

(Root suggests she has to watch Shaw exercise for forty minutes, and Shaw throws her pencil off the table.)

(She doesn't even pretend she's not staring at Root's ass as she bends down to pick it up.)

Shaw has a free period next and then Root has computer programming with Harold, so she doesn't see Root until their shared English class later on in the afternoon. Root approaches her with an idea for their PowerPoint layout and Shaw just nods, not really caring for what pictures or font they should use.

"Are you listening to me?" Root says and Shaw nods again. Oops.

"Yeah why?"

"Cause I just asked whether you wanted to make out and you nodded." Root bites her tongue to hold in her laughter as Shaw splutters loudly and almost drops her pen.

"Girls can we read the chapter in silence please?" The teacher calls from the front of the class and Shaw narrows her eyes at Root. Root takes out her phone and crosses her legs to block the teacher's view of what she is doing. She types something, then Shaw feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. She resolves herself not to look, but after the fifth buzz she can't really ignore it and so she slips it out and glances down at the messages.

 **Root [14:36]:** _so still wanna make out?_  
**Root [14:36]:** _im down if you are_  
**Root [14:36]:** _well if making out goes well then other things might go down_  
**Root [14:38]:** _in all seriousness, are you still coming over?_  
**Root [14:44]:** _hey assbutt, stop ignoring me_  
**Shaw [14:53]:** _yes im still coming over now shut up_  
**Root [14:53]:** _:)_

She waits outside the janitor's closet after school just like Root tells her to do, but other than catching a glimpse of the football player she punched (and with a rush of satisfaction she sees him with a massive bandage on his nose), there's no sign of Root. She's just about to give up and walk home when she sees Root walking quickly down the corridor and approaching her. She links their arms together and pulls her out of school.

"Where have you been?"

"I left my memory stick in the computer block, can't leave that just lying around."

Shaw ignores the looks from the other students as she walks home with Root, "Why what have you got on it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..." Root says and Shaw yanks her arm free from Root's.

"Yeah that's kinda why I asked."

"I need to keep some secrets from you Shaw."

Shaw just rolls her eyes and walks in silence next to her. They approach the neighbourhood again and Shaw can't help herself from tensing. She waits for Root to unlock her front door, and steps through it quickly, eager to be off the street.

The sight that greets her is impressive. Root's house looks big from the outside, but on the inside the space seems maximised. Everything looks extremely expensive, and Shaw self consciously wishes she's wearing shoes that aren't covered in mud. The house is split by a wide staircase in the middle leading to the upstairs, then on the left there's a dining room occupied with a long, glass dining table, then a spacious living room with two comfy couches, one facing the back garden, and the other facing the fifty inch plasma television hanging on the wall. To the right of the house is a kitchen with sparkling worktops and a closed door that Shaw assumes is the bathroom.

Root heads straight for the kitchen, disappearing behind the staircase. Shaw takes a few more seconds to take in the details; she's pretty sure she spots a famous painting on the wall in the living room, and it wouldn't surprise her if it is real.

"Shaw?" Root calls and her voice snaps her out of her trance and she enters the kitchen. Root is sat on a stool at the kitchen island, with two Cokes and a laptop. Shaw accepts the drink, pops the can open, and takes a long gulp. She sits down next to Root. Root watches her with interest.

"What?"

"Make yourself at home." she jokes.

"Your home is twice the size of mine." she just means to say it as a fact but it comes out kind of awkward and Root clears her throat.

"Yeah as I said. My mom is rich."

"What did you say she did again?" Shaw pulls her notebooks out of her bag that they don't really need now Root has a laptop, just to give her something to do.

"Runs her own business," Root replies quickly, "Now let's get our introduction to our essay done alongside confirming the hypothesis to go with it and you can go to John's." Shaw reads Root's body language and sees that she must have said something wrong. Is it bringing up her mom again, or the house thing?

"Listen Root-"

"It says here that the effect of exercise is commonly..." Root reads from a section in a textbook and cross references it with the website loaded on her laptop, and Shaw knows that's the end of that particular conversation.

It takes them just under an hour to fully complete the beginning to their essay and finalise the hypothesis. Root leans over to take Shaw's empty Coke can from in front of her. Her hand brushes Shaw's arm and her skin feels electric at the contact. She can no longer deny that Root isn't having an effect on her anymore. The attraction between them is palpable; and she catches Root glancing at her lips every so often during a conversation and it's really distracting.

"Shaw?" Root says softly, and Shaw blinks, her voice takes her out of her trance. Root's body is facing hers and she wonders what would happen if she just leans over and kisses her. She makes a fraction of a movement and Root's eyes go wide but before it can go any further than that, the front door lock turns and someone steps into the house. Shaw immediately backs away, shaking her head to rid her of the thought of kissing Root, but looking back at her she realises Root has frozen to the spot.

"Samantha?" a woman's voice echoes through the empty hallway.

The one word acts as a trigger for Root, who jumps out of her chair and practically runs to greet the person coming through the door. Shaw hears muffled voices, but then one grows louder, and footsteps approach the kitchen.

"... a project? Well I'd better see..." the woman says and walks into the kitchen and stares straight at Shaw. Judging by the way she's acting, and Root's panic-stricken expression, this woman is Root's mother.

They have the same nose, but the similarities end there. Her hair is bleached blonde and she's wearing a dark blue power suit and holding a phone in each hand. Whereas Root looks at Shaw with amusement and fondness, this woman looks at Shaw with an icy contempt, as if she'd just caught Shaw doing something bad. An immediate cold atmosphere settles in the room and Shaw realises she probably should do something, so she slides off the stool and approaches Root.

"Mom, this is Shaw. Shaw, my mom." Root says quickly, and impulsively Shaw holds out her hand to shake. Root's mother looks at it and sneers. Shaw drops her hand immediately and gives her a steely look, refusing to look away until she feels Root tug at her sleeve.

"Can I have a word?" she whispers and drags Shaw into the living room, leaving her mom tapping away on one of the phones.

"What the hell, Root?" Shaw grumbles and Root glances behind Shaw to check her mother isn't listening. She leans in close.

"Listen, I wasn't expecting her back so soon, you should just go to John's now." her words come out in a rush and Shaw senses there's more to this than she can see.

"Hey-"

"Just stay here okay. I'll get your stuff." Root ignores her and makes her way back to the kitchen.

Shaw stays in the living room per Root's wish, but there's no ignoring the raised voices coming from the other room.

"... I thought you said you'd handled it." Ms Groves says, and Shaw moves closer to eavesdrop.

"I did. It's them not me." Root's voice is oddly calm.

"Well I trust you to sort things like this out for the company, and if they find out I'm using my child to arrange this transaction instead of me I'll be done for."

"They should have took the deal. I gave them the numerical offer for the packages, but they told me it was too high, so I recalculated and gave them a lower deal that still gives us a profit margin. I don't understand why they're not taking it." Root explains.

"Perhaps it's because you gave them a lower deal?" Shaw doesn't know exactly what compels her to do it but she steps into the kitchen, her confidence growing, "If you gave them a lower deal for whatever this is, then maybe they'll expect you to go even lower so they don't have to spend too much money."

Root stares at her mother, waiting for her reaction. Shaw stands there nervous, wondering whether she should have interrupted or not, but Ms Groves smiles, albeit it being a bit forced.

"Perhaps you're onto something."

Shaw takes this as a good sign and steps forward, putting herself in between Root and Ms Groves, "So R-Samantha gave a lower amount, and now they're probably waiting for you to get back to them with an even lower offer. Just wait like twenty-four hours and they'll no choice but to accept, if they don't want to lose the deal. That's what I'd do."

It is going so well until Shaw says that last sentence then Ms Groves stands up quickly, "Do you think I don't know how to run my own company?"

"What? No." Shaw falters.

"I don't take advice from people I don't know. Especially people like _you_."

Anger seeps into her veins and she feels like doing something rash, but one look at Root makes her force it down and her exterior remains calm.

"I think you should go." Ms Groves says and Root grasps Shaw's hand, throwing Shaw's bag with her school stuff in it over her shoulder, and pulls Shaw outside. She slams the door shut and they're both stood on the porch step. Shaw starts to storm away, but Root suddenly pulls her in for a hug and throws her arms around Shaw's neck, burying her face in Shaw's shoulder. Shaw is startled at the contact, and she awkwardly pats Root on the shoulder, then decides to wrap one arm around Root's waist and give it a squeeze.

"What's going on?" Shaw whispers.

"I'll explain later, it's just a bit tense with her at the moment." Root breaks the hug and exhales a shaky breath. She hands Shaw her bag.

"If you need me during any time then call me, I don't care whether you think it's justified or not. If she's being bad, call me." Shaw says and Root nods, then with one last glance at Shaw, she goes back inside her house. Shaw doesn't want to let her go back in alone.

Shaw replays the conversation in her head on the entire walk home, wondering about Ms Groves's instant dislike to her. _People like you._ What does that mean? Shaw knows she doesn't exactly fit the part of the perfect rich lifestyle, but surely Ms Groves's doesn't place those prejudgements on people she'd literally just met. But then again, she doesn't know Ms Groves herself.

And what about Root? Why is she having problems with her mom? Shaw's own mom greets her at the door and takes her bag from her, opening it and throwing away the rubbish that builds up inside it.

"I thought you were meant to be at Root's?" she says.

"I was..." Shaw says and helps her mom wash and put away the dishes left by the sink. She falls silent and her mom knows not to push Shaw's boundaries by asking questions Shaw probably won't answer.

"Just let me know you're okay." her mom says, frowning.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm going to John's now." Shaw replies and gives her mom a quick hug before walking back out the door and going to John's. He only lives a ten minute walk away from her house so it doesn't take her long to reach his door. She opens it and walks in, not bothering to knock. She hasn't knocked at John's door in seven years. He's like a brother, his relatives feel like a second family to her. Speaking of his family, his father welcomes her warmly and tells her that they're in the living room. She enters the room and sees John sat quite close to Zoe, who's whispering things in his ear. Lionel and Carter are in deep conversation about something, and to her surprise Harold is stood next to a pretty girl she doesn't know.

"Shaw!" John exclaims and Zoe tries to subtly move away from John but she's already smirking.

"I see things are going well," Shaw says and John glares at her, "anyway, hey I'm Shaw." she greets the girl she's not familiar with.

"This is Grace." Harold says, and a slight blush appears on his cheeks. _Oh_. Harold's got a _crush_.

Grace whispers hi and Harold resumes his conversation with her. Shaw takes that as a hint to leave them alone, and so she goes to Lionel and Carter, the only two people in the room she knows won't try to get it on with someone tonight.

She settles into a familiar routine; teasing John and Zoe, talking to Carter and making fun of Lionel, and at one point advises Harold to get Grace a drink of something stiffer than water, who Shaw notices has been quiet the entire night.

She's on her third bottle of beer when her phone rings. She's laughing about Lionel spilling beer down himself as she stands up. She excuses herself from the conversation and clicks answer, thinking it's her mother telling her she's going to bed and Shaw has to let herself in, but the voice that says her name is definitely not her mom's.

"Shaw?" Root says and the alcohol in Shaw's system evaporates and is replaced by an icy trickle of worry and panic.

"What's wrong?"

"I know you said I should call, but it doesn't matter now, I think I'll-"

"I'm coming over." Shaw says quickly, and runs into the living room to find her jacket. She sees it lying over the back of the couch and she grabs it and puts it on. The guys look at her strangely, and she covers her phone with a hand, "I have to go, I'll explain later." John nods and she leaves his house, waving goodbye to John's father along the way.

Root pauses, "How good are you at climbing trees?"

Shaw almost laughs, "Why?"

"Because my bedroom is at the back of the house and I have a balcony and there's a tree that hangs over it. There's no way you'll be able to come through the front door, not with my mom home."

Shaw considers whether she should just turn back for one crazy second, but her feet are already running and before she knows it she's at Root's house. She sneaks down the side of the house, and risks a glance through the kitchen window. Root's mother is sat in the living room, typing on a laptop and consulting files. She raises a glass of rich red wine to her lips and takes a long sip. That wine probably costs more than Shaw and her mom earn in a month combined. Shaw waits until Ms Groves looks down to put the glass on a coaster and she rushes past the window, keeping low and light on the balls of her feet. If this is a different Friday night, she would probably be doing the exact same thing... but to rob a house, not deliberately try and get in. The irony doesn't escape her. She jumps and grabs onto the top of the side gate into the backyard with two hands, and lifts herself up using her arms. Her biceps strain under her weight but remain firm. Fortunately, she's been concentrating on her arms in the gym more. She swings her legs over and with a soft thump, she lands in the back garden. She thinks about advising Root to put extra security in place but that would make her job a lot harder if she does this again.

If she does this again?

_What the hell, Shaw? How whipped are you?_

The tree looms large and stands erect right in the centre of the garden, and a main branch faces the balcony Root must have been talking about. The balcony runs along the whole back of the house, and Shaw thinks the room on the right must be Root's as the branch practically touches the outside door. She is about to start climbing it when a light suddenly flicks on. Crap, she didn't check for motion sensor back lights, and she sprints to behind the tree. Her phone vibrates in her pocket and she pulls it out quickly.

 **Root [22:45]:** _start climbing ill distract her_

Grabbing hold of a branch she yanks at it first to check the strength. It holds, and so she starts the slow but steady ascent upwards. She grits her teeth as a branch snaps in her left hand and she prays Root is okay with her mother. At last, she reaches the top of the tree and shuffles down the thick branch; jumping the last stretch and landing outside Root's room.

 **Shaw [22:50]:** _im here_

She counts to twenty before the door opens and Root ushers her into her room. It's pitch black and Shaw awkwardly takes her shoes and jacket off as Root climbs back into her bed. Shaw uses her phone light to find her way to Root's bed and she lies down close to her, but not touching. Shaw breaks the silence first.

"How did you distract her?"

"Told her it was our cat that set off the light."

"Clever."

"Hmm." Root's reply is barely a murmur.

"What happened?"

Root turns to face her, "She gets pretty angry when she drinks."

Shaw freezes, but Root's hand finds its way into hers and she relaxes at the touch, "She didn't..."

"No she's never hit me or anything, I just can't handle her when she's drinking. Tonight she's been dealing with that whole transaction thing you heard earlier. Her job makes her pretty stressed and I'm the only one there at the end of the day that she can rant to. She's more vicious with her words than her actions."

Shaw can't imagine her mom being like Root's mom and it sickens her that Root has to listen to her mother talk to her like that, "Like what?"

"When I was fourteen, I came out to her as gay she wasn't particularly pleased... we argued for two weeks afterwards, but then she realised I wasn't going to change or whatever, and so she's sort of accepted it now. But when she gets completely drunk, she calls me homophobic slurs-"

"I'm gonna pour that wine all over her expensive suit." Shaw grunts and Root smiles, but it's a ghost of her actual smile that Shaw's been on the receiving end of many times.

"Can I hug you?" Root's voice is quiet. Shaw reaches blindly for Root, but she's already moving, and she wraps an arm around Shaw's stomach, tucking her head under her jaw, so she's pressed tight to Shaw's right side. Shaw rests her right arm over Root's shoulder and her left hand covers Root's hand on her stomach.

The contact feels awkward and strange to her but at the same time she's the most comfortable she's ever been with this kind of touching. Root's still respecting her boundaries and not moving if she can help it. It's actually sort of nice to be with someone that understands her level of comfortableness and not assuming just because she doesn't do this kind of thing, there's something wrong or broken with her. Root meets her at her level, instead of expecting Shaw to climb to hers.

"You didn't have to come." Root mumbles and Shaw scoffs.

"If you didn't want me to come you wouldn't have rang me."

"I shouldn't have rang you."

"I told you to ring me didn't I?"

She needs something to distract Root and she looks around rapidly but all that she can see is the shadowy outline of furniture in the darkness. An idea hits her.

"Describe your room to me."

"What?" Shaw feels Root furrow her brow against her neck.

"Describe your room to me. It's dark, I can't really make anything out and I'm curious."

Shaw's not really that fussed about Root's room, she just knows that if Root's talking then she's not thinking about her mom.

"Erm well this is my bed-"

"No shit, Sherlock." Shaw interjects.

Root pokes her in her side, "Shut up."

"Sorry, carry on."

Root briefly describes her room until Shaw takes over and begins to describe what her own room looks like and she continues to do so until Root's breathing evens out and she starts exhaling deeply.

Root mumbles something and there's no clarity to her words but Shaw understands her perfectly.

 _Thank you_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I'm English so forgive me if I don't really describe the school day correctly, I've tried to be as specific as I can, but feel free to tell me any tips for high school subjects etc!


	4. nobody got me feeling this way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way home, she tries to think about the work they've got to do, but Root's image keeps barging it's way into her thoughts, just like Root herself found her way into Shaw's life and now Shaw doesn't know exactly how it happened, but Root is fast becoming someone relevant to her.

Shaw wakes up in a bedroom that isn't hers, and she tries to recall what on earth she was doing last night. She didn't have sex with anyone did she? If she did, it obviously wasn't that memorable. She cracks open both her eyes and sees unfamiliar surroundings, but a familiar face. Root is sprawled across her body, her head on Shaw's shoulder. Shaw has her arms wrapped around Root and she thinks of pushing Root away because she _does not do_ cuddling no matter the circumstance but Root's already broken that rule at least three times and there's really no point in waking her up just so Shaw can get some space.

(At least that's what she tells herself.)

She turns her head a fraction to see the light pouring through the curtain, revealing the dust swirling in the air and settling upon the two girls lying in the bed. A few birds are tweeting outside and there's a distinct absence of car horns honking and noise from the usual New York City traffic. The only noise that Shaw can hear is Root's steady breathing against her chest. The scene is almost peaceful, and it's something Shaw hasn't experienced in a long time. She runs her hand up Root's arm and in response, Root snuggles closer to her.

She closes her eyes and tries to go back to sleep when there's a sudden _bang_ and Root's eyes fly open. Root attempts to sit up at the same time that Shaw pulls her arms away from Root and there's a tangle of limbs as they struggle against the sheets wrapped around them, all whilst listening to the noises coming from downstairs. Desperately, Root tugs at the sheet, attempting to pull it out from under Shaw, but that causes Shaw to go rolling to the edge of the bed, and then over completely; she lands on the floor with a sore thump, dragging the sheets down with her. Root giggles and her face appears from the bed, looking over the edge and down at Shaw, who is ripping the sheets away from her.

"It's not funny." Shaw grumbles, but looking up at Root laughing she then starts to crack a smile.

"Samantha?" a voice calls from downstairs, and both of them realise the source of the bang.

" _Shit_."

She scrambles to her feet and makes the move to run towards the balcony, but they both know that there's no time, the footsteps coming towards the room are getting louder and louder. Root's eyes go wide.

"In the wardrobe." she hisses and pushes Shaw hard towards the built-in closet. Root picks up the jacket and shoes that Shaw had discarded last night and throws them into Shaw's arms. She stumbles backwards as Root does one quick check around the room. The bed sheets are on the floor but Root can explain that one away; if her mom asks she'll just say she woke up with them like that.

"What is it with us and closets?" Shaw quirks and Root glares harshly at her, but there's humour laced in her expression. Shaw reaches the wardrobe and throws the door open. She hides behind a coat and Root slams the door shut just as her bedroom door bursts open and her mom walks into the room.

"Is someone here?" Ms Groves says and steps into the middle of the room. Shaw squints through the slants in the door and watches Root move back, allowing her mom into the space.

"No." Root replies quickly. _Come on Root, you've got this._

"I heard voices." Ms Groves glances at the bed, where the sheets that Shaw had pulled down when Root pushed her off lie crumpled on the floor. Root swallows thickly.

"I was on the phone."

"To whom?"

"Harold." It's the first name that pops into Root's head that isn't Shaw's.

"Is that that boy in your computer class?" Ms Groves says and checks around the room again, frowning suspiciously.

"Yeah, he needed help with something."

"At nine in the morning?"

"He likes to do all his homework as early as possible." Root says and her mom walks to pick the sheets up from the floor, stepping directly in front of the closet where Shaw is hiding. Root's heart beats fast in her chest as she helps her mom lift the sheets back onto the bed. Then Ms Groves flashes Root a sly smile, and Root knows exactly what's coming and it's nothing to do with Shaw.

"He sounds like a nice boy. You talk about him a lot." her tone is light but suggestive and Root grinds her teeth.

"I'm not interested in him." Root says loud and clear.

"I was merely speculating-"

"I'm not interested." Root says affirmatively and Ms Groves tuts.

"I suppose you're more interested in people like _Shaw_." she scowls. At the mention of Shaw's name, Root's eyes dart to her wardrobe for a fraction of a second, then anger settles like a weight in her chest and she decides this time she won't remain silent.

"Still hungover mother?" Root quips and Ms Groves narrows her eyes. Both of them stare at each other, daring the other one to break the sudden silence.

"Watch your mouth." Ms Groves snaps, unable to take it anymore, and Root stares her down. Root is significantly taller than her mom when she doesn't wear heels and it makes her feel a lot more confident.

"Maybe I will when you respect me more."

"Maybe you should respect your elders regardless." she snarls.

Root chuckles at that and Ms Groves's nostrils flare in anger and she storms out of the room, slamming the door with a resonant bang; the picture frame hanging on the wall moves slightly and Root shakes her head then glances down at her feet, fixating at the ground. Always has to have the last word. The front door opens and shuts loudly and a car revs on the driveway, then pulls away and drives down the street. Her mother never stays if they have an argument.

There's a creak of a door and Root's head snaps up. She makes eye contact with Shaw, who steps out of the wardrobe, clutching her things and pushing a coat sleeve from her arm. Shaw's eyes are dark with something Root can't quite work out.

"You shouldn't have done that." Shaw grumbles.

"She deserved it." Root counters and Shaw steps forward again, standing so close to Root that she can count the eyelashes on Shaw's face and see a faint scar on her cheek. There's a rising heat between them and Root licks her lips subconsciously. Shaw stares her down despite the height difference; Root feels like she is being analysed and so she drops the eye contact and takes a step back, mumbling about making her bed properly. Shaw watches her do it for two minutes, just standing there as still as a statue, thinking about everything that's happened between them. Root tucks the final sheet under the mattress.

"I'll go now then," she says and Root nods, and Shaw is about to go onto the balcony when she turns back around, "do you want to carry on with our project today?"

For some reason she doesn't quite want to stop hanging out with Root.

"Yeah but we're on the exercise part... so where do you work out?" Root smirks, and the moment passes. They're back to their normal selves; Root annoying and frustrating, and Shaw passive-aggressive in her reactions to Root's shameless flirting.

Shaw rolls her eyes. "You know that boxing place near Second Avenue?"

"Yep."

"Well I usually go there and work out as well as boxing. I'm friendly with the owners so they should be fine with it." Shaw says, but doesn't mention the reason she is friends with the owners is because she once covered for them when they were hiding from the police and now they're in some sort of unwritten contract with her that she can use their gym whenever she wants without paying for membership.

"I'll meet you there at ten?" Root says and makes her way to her en suite, pulling the door half closed. If Shaw moves to the left she can see Root's reflection in the mirror, but in respect to Root's privacy she stares at the door instead.

"Yeah, what do I need to bring?" Shaw says and there's no reply, she can only hear shuffling coming from the bathroom. She cranes her neck to see Root in the reflection of the bathroom mirror, but quickly looks away as Root pulls her shirt over her head and lets it drop to the floor. Even though she only gets one glance, Root topless is imprinted as clear as anything in Shaw's brain. She shakes her head to rid her of the image but Root's back muscles and slender figure won't leave her alone no matter how much she tries to force herself to think of something else. She's thankful Root's front wasn't facing the mirror. That would've been even harder to stop thinking of.

There's a rumble of metal pipes and water starts pouring from a shower. Root opens her door with just a towel wrapped around herself and she leans against the door frame. Shaw can't help but think that she's naked under that towel.

"What did you say?" Root asks, and she's smirking at Shaw's clearly annoyed expression.

Shaw clenches her jaw. "Stop that."

"Stop what, sweetie?" Root smiles.

"You know what." Shaw scowls and refuses to look anywhere but directly in Root's eyes.

"Just wear something you can exercise in and I'll bring the rest." Root says and waits a few more seconds before turning around and going back into the bathroom. Shaw puts her jacket and shoes on, then makes her way downstairs and walks out of the front door, which feels weird considering the way she came in.

_Stupid Root._

On the way home, she tries to think about the work they've got to do, but Root's image keeps barging it's way into her thoughts, just like Root herself found her way into Shaw's life and now Shaw doesn't know exactly how it happened, but Root is fast becoming someone relevant to her.

When she gets home she ignores her mom's questions about where she's been and grabs her gym gear and gets changed. She throws her crumpled clothes in the washing machine and fills a water bottle up, stuffing it into a gym bag along with a towel and a spare change of clothes.

The walk to the gym doesn't take her long, and she's there earlier than the scheduled meeting time. As she walks through the front door, her friend and sparring partner Jason greets her as he stands behind the welcome desk, wrapping tape around his fingers.

"You're not usually here on a Saturday morning Shaw."

"I've got to exercise for this stupid school project thing. My... friend... should be here at ten."

"Is it John?" Jason says eagerly, and Shaw rolls her eyes. John comes with her to the gym occasionally and Jason brings up the time him and John went head to head in a fight nearly every time Shaw mentions her friends, desperate to have a rematch.

"No it's not John, it's this girl you haven't met, we're lab partners."

"I sense there's something more to it than lab partners?" Jason smirks.

Shaw dodges his question. "Is the back room free?"

"Want some privacy do we?" Jason retorts and Shaw is about to reply when Jason whistles and raises his eyebrow, "Although I'd want some privacy if that was my lab partner." He nods in the direction behind Shaw and she spins around. Root saunters into the room wearing tight black jeans tucked into boots which make her legs look even longer than they usually do, much to Shaw's annoyance. A leather jacket over a tight red top completes the outfit, and Root's freshly washed hair bounces on her shoulders as she moves. Her make up is subtle but effective. She has a rucksack slung over one shoulder, presumably filled with all of the stuff they need.

She's never looked so hot.

Jason and Shaw stare at her as she approaches and Jason is the first one to snap into action.

"Hi beautiful." he flashes her a wide smile and Root returns it immediately. Shaw scowls.

"And that's enough of that." she leans over the desk and snatches a key from Jason's grasp, motioning for Root to go through a door. Root's smile turns smug as Shaw places a hand on Root's lower back, guiding her through the door and down a set of stairs.

"I can walk fine by myself." Root states and Shaw removes her hand like she'd just touched something scalding hot. She unlocks a door at the bottom of the stairs and flicks on the lights. The room is quite small, with a treadmill to the side, but dominating the room are two sparring mats, boxing gloves and pads left in the middle. There's a pile of handwraps and tape in a box at the edge of the mat. Root raises her eyebrow.

"Planning to beat me up Shaw?"

"I could beat you up anytime, I don't need boxing gloves to do that." Shaw retorts and Root laughs. Shaw turns on the treadmill and Root takes off the rucksack, unzipping it and pulling out a stopwatch, heart rate monitor and a notebook. She sits down on a chair and Root kneels down next to her.

"I came prepared."

"I can tell."

"I'm going to take your resting heart rate, and then you can run on the treadmill for ten minutes, then I'll take your heart rate at the end of the exercise, and then every minute until the heart rate returns to near your normal level." Root explains, then attaches the heart rate monitor to Shaw's wrist. It immediately picks up her pulse and she watches as Root opens the notebook and pulls a pencil out, poised and ready. Root looks at the monitor but Shaw stares at Root, taking in her delicate features; her eyelashes are long and black, and she's wearing some sort of lipgloss Shaw's not seen on her lips before and now she's staring at her lips again and she wonders about what it would be like to kiss them and it's becoming a real issue that her concentration fluctuates whenever Root's around because-

"Shaw?" Root says amusingly and Shaw glances down at the monitor, where her pulse is steadily going up. Oops.

"Did you get it?" Shaw asks quickly, and Root nods. She rips the monitor from her wrist and hurries to the treadmill, setting it on a steady speed and starts jogging. Root watches her with interest, and she hardly breaks a sweat, having done runs like this for five times as long as the arranged time. Root writes something down in the notebook and checks the stopwatch.

"Time's up." Root says and Shaw stops the treadmill, stepping off it and moving closer to Root, who ties the monitor around Shaw's wrist again and takes note of the reading. Shaw's pulse is faster than it was before, which she expects because not even Shaw can do ten solid minutes of running without getting her heart pumping quicker. Root makes a note of the number, then proceeds to do the same thing as each minute passes. Shaw just stares at Root as she does it. Watching Root is rapidly becoming one of her favourite things to do.

"Done!" Root declares and closes the notebook, sliding it into her rucksack.

"So I can go home and rest now? I had a rough night." Shaw says and Root glares at her.

"You enjoyed sleeping with me, don't lie."

"You enjoyed sleeping with _me_." Shaw argues back, and there's a dangerous glint in Root's eyes. That's never a good sign.

"I'm sure I would enjoy it if it was a different kind of sleeping with you," she says casually and Shaw's mouth drops open. Root laughs, "Come on Shaw, don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"I haven't thought about it." Shaw says adamantly, but she feels suddenly hot and she avoids Root's gaze, instead her eyes settle on the boxing gloves on the mat and an idea hits her.

"We'd be good together." Root tries again, but Shaw ignores her.

(She knows they'd be really good together, and that's entirely the problem.)

"Do you know any moves on how to fight?" Shaw changes the subject and walks to the mat, taking off her shoes and leaving them perched on the edge of the mat. Root stands up and removes her jacket and boots, then steps onto the mat as well.

"I know some." Root says and Shaw spares a quick glance at Root's body now her jacket is off. The image in the reflection of the mirror comes back and taunts her.

“Let’s start slow, so I can get used to the way you fight…” she grunts, expelling the image once more. Root nods and grins at her, raising her fists. Shaw reconsiders whether this is a good idea or not, but there's no backing out of it now without looking like she doesn't want to hurt Root.

And after the sex comment made earlier she very much wants to punish her.

“Are you going to start or what?” Root says impatiently and Shaw throws a jab towards her face at about half speed, hoping to catch her off guard, but to her surprise Root blocks it. Shaw raises her eyebrow.

"What?" Root acts innocent, but Shaw knows that's when she's at her most dangerous.

Root attempts to rush Shaw, but she dodges out of the way calmly and Root goes spinning past her. Shaw parries off her next punch, but the speed and ferocity of Root's fist shocks her. She throws a double jab and catches Root in the shoulder. She goes stumbling back and Shaw drops her arms.

"Are you okay?" Shaw asks gently, and steps towards Root. She kicks out and Shaw only just side-steps away in time. She grins. So it's that kind of party huh.

"Let me hit you." Root moans, annoyed at Shaw's ducking and twisting away from Root's punches.

"Go for it." Shaw throws open her arms wide so she's not defending herself, and doesn't miss Root's eyes scan over her biceps and then over body. Good.

"I'm not hitting you when you're not trying."

Shaw rolls her eyes and bounces lightly on the balls of her feet, shaking her arms loose. "Okay go for it."

Root approaches with more caution this time and feints going left but Shaw sees what's she's doing too easily and again Root misses.

"You're being too obvious." Shaw says.

"Well teach me then." Root scowls and Shaw puts her hands up in surrender as she walks towards Root.

"You're too heavy on your feet, and your arms are weak." Shaw says bluntly and puts a hand on Root's waist, turning her so her body is about forty degrees from her feet.

"Thanks for the confidence booster." Root says, but she's quieter than before as she focuses on Shaw's hands and where they are. Shaw clears her throat awkwardly and moves her hands to Root's fists. She pulls them up into a fighting stance, then draws the right one towards her stomach, tapping lightly to her side.

"That's approximately where my kidney is. If you hit that it'll wind a man twice the size of you. Plus if that doesn't work and you're fighting a man then a heel to his balls usually knocks him down for a few good minutes." Shaw smirks.

"Kicked a lot of guys in the balls, Shaw?"

"More than you'd think."

"Well I wouldn't want to be a guy facing you in a fight."

"Yeah usually people don't want to get physical with me." the words are out of Shaw's mouth before she realises the consequences and Root grins. _Oh no._

"I'd love to get physical with you." Root purrs and Shaw narrows her eyes. Well, she did kind of walk straight into that one.

"The only physical you're getting with me is if I punch that look from your face." Shaw says, but Root is still smiling.

"I kind of enjoy that sort of thing."

"Listen-" Shaw starts and whilst she's distracted from Root's getting physical comment, Root lashes out and before Shaw knows it she's actually lying down on the mat. What the fuck?

She decides to have some fun with this unexpected situation though and she turns her face to the side, groaning in pain slightly.

"Shaw?" Root's tone is uncertain and she leans down. Shaw smiles. Perfect. The lightning move catches Root by surprise and almost takes her breath away as she falls. Her face plants onto Shaw's chest and Shaw laughs.

"You know you shouldn't let your guard down."

"You did that on purpose." Root groans and uses Shaw's stomach to support herself as she pushes herself up. Shaw's abdominal muscles are firm under Root's hand and Root smirks when she realises she's basically on top of Shaw, pinning her down to the mat with her thighs trapping Shaw's sides.

"Do you mind?" Shaw says coolly and Root cocks her head.

"No, not really. It's a nice view." Root replies and now their faces are inches apart from each other and Root leans down and Shaw freezes immediately. Root moves past her lips and exhales a cool breath behind Shaw's ear. Shaw gulps loudly as the edge of Root's lip pulls back against her jawline. It's too much for Shaw, who pushes Root off harshly and they both lie down on the mat, staring at the ceiling, panting slightly, not daring to speak.

Shaw is the first one to move, and she offers Root her hand to help her stand up. She accepts and Shaw quickly breaks the contact when Root is on her feet. They both put their shoes back on, and gather their stuff. Shaw checks her phone to see two messages.

 **mom [10:44]:** _I'm going to work so I won't be in until late, look after yourself x_

She types a quick message back saying okay, then opens the other text.

 **Harold [11:15]:** _do you know where Root is? She's not answering her phone._

Shaw rolls her eyes, then shows Root the message.

"He obviously knows you spend all your time thinking about me." Root grins and Shaw elbows her lightly.

"You wish."

 **Shaw [11:21]:** _yeah she's with me, we're doing our bio project, we can swing by yours now if you want?_  
**Harold [11:21]:** _yes please_  
**Shaw [11:22]:** _okay we're on route_

Shaw repeats the text to Root, and they exit the room, climbing up the stairs. Jason appears out of nowhere and stops them just before they can leave, and Shaw bets that he was stood waiting for them to come back up.

"So I didn't catch your name?" Jason gives Root his best smile and stands with one hand on his hip, flexing his bicep. What a tool.

"Her name is not interested." Shaw says and Jason rolls his eyes.

"Oh come on Shaw, if she's not going out with you then she's fair game isn't she?"

"First of all I'm not game," Root speaks back to Jason for the first time and it shocks both Shaw and him. "And secondly, I'm not interested cause I'm gay. A big gay." she adds after Jason opens his mouth to retort something probably stupid and Shaw has to resist the urge to laugh, and so she settles on a smirk instead. _A big gay._ A big nerd is more like it.

"Oh okay. Well don't be a stranger, it'd be a shame if I only got to see your pretty face just this once." Jason senses it's a lost cause and takes the key from Shaw's hand and goes back behind the desk, typing on the computer in the middle of it.

Shaw and Root stroll to Harold's house, talking about their project and Jason's poor attempts at hitting on Root. It's not Harold who greets them at the door, however, but John.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Shaw says and they step into the house.

"I was playing video games with Harold when he got a message on his laptop and freaked out, then wanted Root, who wouldn't answer her phone." John explains.

"Sorry me and Shaw were too busy getting physical." Root states and Shaw scoffs.

"Ignore her." Shaw tells John and he offers them both a drink, but before they can go to the kitchen, Harold rushes towards Root and shows her his laptop. She rests it in her hands and scans the screen, her eyes going wide with each passing second. Shaw and John look at each other from the corner of their eyes. John shrugs.

"What's going on?" Shaw asks, but Harold hushes her and she's taken aback. He's never shushed her like that before. John lightly pulls Shaw away from Root and Harold, who are talking frantically in hushed tones over the laptop.

"He did the same thing to me when I asked. Wouldn't say anything until Root got here." he whispers and Shaw realises there's probably no point in asking until they sort out whatever they're nerding over and so she jerks her head in the direction of upstairs.

"What game were you and Harold playing?"

"Call of Duty. I was owning his ass, so it'll be nice to have some competition." John challenges.

"You know I'm better than you." she retorts, "hey Root?" she catches Root's attention and points to upstairs and Root nods at her, then her and Harold take the laptop into the kitchen and sit down at the table.

Shaw and John play video games until Shaw's stomach rumbles and they stop to get lunch.

(Shaw wins seven games out of nine and John hates her for it.)

They race downstairs and burst into the kitchen, John complaining that Shaw got a head start, and Shaw awkwardly stops as Root and Harold stare up at her. John comes skidding to a halt and crashes into her, but she holds firm.

"Sorry about that." John says.

"Are you hungry?" Shaw says and Root looks at Harold and they have a silent conversation. Probably communicating through some nerdy brain telepathy, Shaw reckons.

"Yes." Harold says, breaking eye contact with Root, and finally making a decision. She closes the laptop lid and pulls a memory stick out of the USB port, tucking it into her back pocket.

"Is that the memory stick you were working on in school yesterday?" Shaw asks and Root nods, not willing to elaborate further.

Her and John fix them up some sandwiches and they all go to eat in Harold's living room.

Shaw notices an absence of something trying to eat her sandwich and she mentally kicks herself for not asking earlier, "Where's Bear?" The enthusiasm in her voice is evident and Harold smiles; Shaw loves his Belgian Malinois almost as much as she loves food, if not more.

"Carter offered to walk him for me since my injury is playing up recently." Harold says and Shaw nods. Ever since the accident that damaged Harold's spine three years ago, Shaw, John, and Harold have grown tighter as a group, and Shaw and John practically did everything for Harold for the first few months, until Harold politely but firmly asked them to give him space. This meant that Carter and Lionel also became more involved in their friendship group and now they're all pretty much inseparable.

Zoe is a recent addition: she is known as the most popular girl in school, and she deals not in gossip, but in secrets. To the majority of the teaching staff, Zoe is just a well-informed, intelligent girl who knows more than she lets on, but to the students, they know otherwise. Despite having this power of knowing this much about nearly everyone in school, Zoe is careful and doesn't use it to abuse her position. She only ruins someone's reputation if they're being an asshole and deserve it. The big scandal of last year was that Nick Kane, the athlete who was in prime position to get the quarterback position, suddenly withdrew from the tryouts to focus on his studies. In actuality, he had tried to get it on with a girl in Zoe's group and wouldn't take no for an answer, and the next day decided to get his grades up in Maths, which became a sudden passion of his. To this day, he sits quietly in the back of the room and takes studious notes, and has recently joined the track team. No-one gets on Zoe's bad side if they can help it. John and Zoe have been flirting for a while, and Shaw has urged him to ask her out many times, but he seems content just to spend time with her at the moment. _Romantic sap_ , Shaw thinks. He'd probably hit her if she ever says that out loud.

"When will Carter be back?" Shaw asks in between mouthfuls of bread and ham. Root looks at her with fascination, and Shaw's not sure that's because of her excitement over Bear or the way she's ravenously attacking the sandwich. Either way, it means Root's looking at her and she absolutely doesn't care one bit. Nope. No way.

"I don't know she said she wanted to take him home for a bit afterwards." Harold says and John jumps up from the couch and kneels in front of the TV. He holds up two DVDs. Shaw is about to say which film she wants to watch, but John cuts her off.

"Root?" he waves the DVDs in her direction and she looks up from her sandwich, clearly startled to be asked. Root then glances at Shaw and she reads her expression. She considers her choices for a few more seconds.

"Die Hard." Root says and Shaw grins, and Root knows she's made the right choice. John groans.

"You had a fifty-fifty chance and you chose the wrong one." he shakes his head in mock disgust and slides the DVD into the BlueRay player, putting his favourite film back on top of the stack of other DVDs. He then crosses the room, closes the curtains and flicks the light off.

"Die Hard is a classic John don't deny it."

"Yeah but we watch it nearly every weekend." he grumbles, then sits next to Harold on the other couch.

"We do not." Shaw argues but then falls silent as the film starts to play. Root shuffles in the seat next to her, getting into a comfortable position. Shaw drapes her arm on the back of the couch and Root doesn't look at her but the corners of her mouth start to twitch in amusement. Root uncrosses her legs and slouches on the couch slightly, but in the movement, she ends up closer to Shaw than before, and now it looks like Shaw's got her arm around Root's shoulders. Root pulls her feet up onto the couch and her knee bumps into Shaw's side.

They spend the entire beginning of the film casually moving against each other in subtle ways; a finger touching a shoulder, a foot pushing against a thigh, a hand brushing against knuckles.

Root leans into Shaw's side during the second half of the film and rests her head on Shaw's shoulder. She inhales a sharp breath, freezing to the spot, and Root hums in contentment.

If Root touching her like this affects her this much, then she really needs to stop thinking about what it'd be like to kiss her.

She's pretty sure Root is going to be the death of her.

But there's really no better way to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kind comments so far! There's some interesting chapters coming up soon.


	5. a risk worth taking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So? What's wrong with that?"
> 
> "It means we need someone else as good with computers as Harold to help us get into the system when we're in the field."
> 
> As soon as the words are out of his mouth Shaw realises that it probably would have come to this all along. She takes a deep breath.
> 
> "Are you sure John?"

The end of September eases into October, and the cold New York winter is starting to have an effect on the daylight. Shaw's morning runs are often done before the sun comes up and when she walks back from work (her car _still_ isn't fixed) her way home is guided by streetlights. Time passes quicker than Shaw expects, but she thinks that probably has to do with the fact her weekends and spare time are preoccupied with three main things: school, work, and her friends.

That last category includes Root, although she's not entirely sure whether she fits more into the work category because damn Root is a lot to deal with sometimes.

They finish their project two weeks before it's due on the Halloween deadline, and hand it in early, much to the surprise of the teacher. He admits to thinking they'd end up ripping each other's heads off before submitting it and honestly Shaw thinks about it once or twice when Root gets particularly flirty or touchy.

Root's a really touchy drunk.

Zoe now invites Root to her parties and Shaw suddenly finds herself not drinking as much as she used to and keeping an eye on Root. She convinces herself the two things are unrelated. Shaw really wishes Zoe's house is closer to Root's because she's tired of walking Root the whole way home and Root insisting she has to hold her hand or she might fall over and yeah it's happened twice before because Root's lean frame and long legs don't mix with alcohol and sidewalks very well.

(Shaw catches her each time she falls.)

Sometimes, when Ms Groves isn't home, she stops over and sleeps on the couch to make sure Root gets to bed okay. By the time it's morning, Root walks downstairs to find her house empty.

They never speak about it.

They don't speak about a lot of things. They don't speak about the time Shaw lends Root her hoodie when she's cold and doesn't get it back until a week later. Nor when they're in class and the teacher says pick a partner and it's just assumed they'll work together again. Or the fact that Shaw's been teaching Root some other sparring moves in order to defend herself more.

Root and Harold still haven't told Shaw or John about the whole laptop thing. Shaw asks John whether he's picked any more information up about it but he just says that Harold changes topic whenever he mentions it and now he's given up asking. Root just tells Shaw it's not important and if it comes to anything, her and John will be the first to know.

At least Shaw has still Bear. He's never been complicated to her. Some days she finds herself telling Bear about something Root did on their walks together and he looks up at her with his tongue out and panting slightly. She mutters to herself to shut the hell up because there's no reason she should be asking a dog for advice on whether she should pay for Root's ticket when they go to the cinema later that night. Alone. Just to two of them. Whatever. It's not a date. Bear barks loudly at that, startling a flock of birds in a tree, and sometimes she swears he can read her mind.

She drops Bear off at Harold's house. Harold's been off school for a couple of days because his back has been hurting him more than usual, and so Shaw has been talking it in turns to walk Bear in rotation with Carter. John greets her at Harold's house and Bear runs through the front door and almost wipes John out in excitement.

"How is he?" she asks and steps into the warm house.

"Good I think. I mean he's up and ordering me around so he must be feeling better." John quirks and Shaw can hear Harold's protests coming from the other room.

"Can you do me a favour?" Shaw says and she really hopes John doesn't question her motives because she really doesn't want to explain. Then again, this is John she's talking about.

"Depends on the favour." John gives Bear a pat.

"Can I borrow your car?"

"Why?"

"Mine's still not fixed and I need it." she says stone faced and John narrows his eyes.

"Where are you going?"

Bear suddenly barks and glances up at Shaw. _Thank god he can't talk_ , Shaw thinks.

"Does that matter?"

"Well if you're driving to another state I would rather know so I know how much gas money to charge you with."

"I'm going to the movie theatre."

"With?" John asks innocently. She feels like punching him.

"You know."

He smiles. "Okay I'll stop torturing you." he takes his car keys out of his pocket and hands them to her.

She's just about to close the door when she hears him shout. "Have fun on your date!"

It's not a date. It's not.

Shaw starts John's car and drives to pick Root up at her house. She knocks on the door and Root opens it, waving Shaw to come in whilst she searches for her boots. Ms Groves suddenly appears out of the kitchen and leans against the wall, glass of wine in one hand and her phone in the other. Shaw wouldn't be surprised if she has those two things permanently glued to her palms.

"Where are you two going?" Ms Groves asks, lifting her glass to take a sip.

"Movie theatre." Shaw stares defiantly at her, daring her to say something else. Ms Groves makes a _hmm_ noise in the back of her throat and rises to the challenge.

"What film?"

"The one about Mars." Shaw deadpans.

"What's it called again?..." Ms Groves pretends to be thinking of the title and Shaw knows damn well she's already checked out all the details that Root's given her, especially the title of the film.

"The Martian. I kind of already said that."

"When's the showing?"

"Seven thirty."

Ms Groves narrows her eyes and is about to say something else when Root practically comes running into the hallway and grabs Shaw's hand. Shaw smiles at Ms Groves, who then scoffs and walks away from the both of them. Root pulls Shaw out of the house.

"You shouldn't wind her up like that." Root rolls her eyes but she's smiling and Shaw knows Root gets a kick out of seeing them argue as much as Shaw does.

"I'll bear that in mind." Shaw starts the car and Root grins at her.

Shaw doesn't usually go to the cinema that often, only when Zoe and Carter want to see a new romantic comedy and she goes as moral support for John who gets dragged along by Zoe. She's been on the receiving end of Carter's death stare numerous times when she makes some offhand comment about the film being too heterosexual and proceeds to roll her eyes whenever the main leads say something too cheesy.

Root attempts to link her arm with Shaw's as they walk into the movie theatre, but Shaw pulls away quickly.

"What's the matter sweetie?" Root says in that sweet flirty tone Shaw loves to hate.

"I'm not doing this with you." Shaw replies and Root gasps, pretending to be hurt by Shaw's words. They join the line to buy tickets.

"You know you want to."

"I don't want to do anything with you."

"That's not what you think at night." God. She's relentless.

"Can I help you?" the girl behind the screen interrupts their conversation and glances between the two of them vaguely amused.

"Two for The Martian please." Shaw grumbles and the girl smiles. She pulls her wallet out before Root can get any money from her pocket, and hands the girl the correct amount. Root raises her eyebrow but doesn't say anything.

"Enjoy your date." the girl says and Shaw almost drops the tickets.

"It's not a date." Shaw says quickly.

The girl looks completely unconvinced, "Sorry, it's just you talk like you're on a date and you paid for her ticket..."

"No harm, no foul, right Sam?" Root smirks and Shaw narrows her eyes.

"Don't call me Sam." she growls and on that note she spins around and marches towards the stand where she can buy chocolate and popcorn. Luckily, this theatre is reasonably priced when compared to others around the city and Shaw orders a large popcorn and a bag of Malteasers before Root eventually catches up with her.

"Hey Sam the film's starting soon we should get seats." Root laughs when Shaw shoves the chocolate at her chest and she looks at Shaw with those stupid doe-eyes again. The cashier lets out a quiet _aww_ at them and Shaw sighs deeply. This was totally a bad idea. They find some seats at the back of the theatre just before the room falls dark and the adverts and trailers start playing on the screen.

"Did you pick these seats so we could make out without being seen?" Root whispers into Shaw's ear and she just shoves an entire mouthful of popcorn into her mouth to avoid answering Root's question.

Shaw focuses on the movie for as long as her mind allows her to. It's pathetic really, that she only pays attention long enough to witness the few opening action shots before Root's maddening presence diverts her attention. She's actually kind of enjoying the movie for once, but to hell with that. She shifts her gaze to Root beside her. Root's perfect features are highlighted in the light coming from the screen. Root raises her hand to eat some popcorn but she gets distracted by something on screen and her hand wavers just below her slightly parted lips. Her dangerously soft lips.

Oh god.

Root suddenly looks at Shaw and she quickly whips her attention back to the screen, and her pulse is racing and it's nothing to do with the tension in the film. The corners of Root's mouth twitch in amusement and she's totally smug.

Shaw sighs. This is exactly like a date.

But she's not dating Root. Not in a million years. Not if she got offered a thousand dollars. Not even if Harold said he'd give her Bear if she went out with her. No way.

(Okay maybe she would sacrifice her sanity for that last one.)

The film finishes without another incident and they exit the room, eyes adjusting to the lights. Root complains that Shaw hogged all the popcorn and she barely got any, and then Shaw pulls out a kernel that's stuck in Root's hair and holds it up to her. Root gives her an innocent look and Shaw rolls her eyes. She's about to leave the theatre when her phone rings. It's John. He doesn't need his car back this quickly does he? She clicks answer.

"John?"

"Dominic's on the move."

Shaw immediately goes still and Root stares at her with a concerned expression, picking up on Shaw's sudden tense form. "Where?"

"He's going to Brooklyn and leaving the warehouse. It's now or never Shaw. Are you in?" John's voice is calm but Shaw can tell he's excited.

"Of course I'm in."

"There's just one problem." John says. Of course there is.

"What?"

John hesitates.

"Just tell me."

"Harold can't come into the building with us because of his injury acting up, but he's still choosing to help us. He's going to stay in the car with his laptop instead."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"It means we need someone else as good with computers as Harold to help us get into the system when we're in the field."

As soon as the words are out of his mouth Shaw realises that it probably would have come to this all along. She takes a deep breath.

"Are you sure John?"

"Yes. Listen I know you would rather not involve her but-"

"Just promise me it'll be fine." Root lightly tugs on her sleeve to get her attention, but Shaw refuses to look at her until John speaks.

"I promise I'll look out for her, Shaw." he says quietly, and she's never felt so grateful to him than in that moment.

"Okay. Meet us at the Cineplex as soon as." she says and hangs up after getting John's confirmation that they'll be there in a few minutes.

"Shaw what's going on?" Root is anxious and still hasn't let go of Shaw's jacket sleeve.

"We need your help." it comes out in a rush.

"Sweetie?" Root questions and flashes Shaw a sly smile.

"I need your help," she groans, "and if you're going to be an asshole about it-"

"I'd love to help." Root purrs and Shaw locks her jaw.

"It's going to be dangerous-"

"Sounds like fun!"

"Great. Just don't mess this up and we might actually enjoy ourselves." Shaw says, and her heart is pounding.

"We make such a great team it's impossible for us not to enjoy ourselves," Root sounds so eager and sincere that Shaw actually believes what she's saying for one brief second, "especially if it's something illegal."

"It's definitely illegal and you could definitely get hurt." Shaw snaps, "It's not a game."

Root takes a step closer to Shaw and stares directly into her eyes, "I know you won't let me get hurt."

Shaw doesn't know how to reply to that and she's thankful that John pulls up in Harold's car a few seconds after; Harold strapped into the front seat and typing furiously on his laptop. John waves at them and Shaw motions for him to pull up alongside his car that Shaw borrowed earlier. He parks and Shaw and Root climb into the back seats. John turns around in his seat and smiles at them.

"Harold's just making some last minute changes and we'll get going. Here's your bag." John heaves a backpack over the seat to Shaw, who unzips it and glances inside. Two black ski masks, a can of graffiti spray, and a pocketknife are the first things her eyes are drawn to, then the rest of the backpack is filled with other things that might come in useful. Root stares open-mouthed at the contents of the bag.

Harold pulls out his earphones and awkwardly twists his head towards them, wincing slightly.

"You all have exactly twenty-two minutes to get in there and out of there, that's all I can get you before they realise something is wrong." John and Shaw nod but Root remains confused. Harold looks at her.

"Did either one of you tell her what we're actually doing?"

Shaw and John stare at each other for a brief second. Oops.

Harold rolls his eyes as if he expected nothing less from them. "This is for you." he slides a tablet out of his laptop bag and hands it to Root. She unlocks it and scans the coding on the page, the numbers and letters reflecting in her large dark pupils as she reads.

"This is impressive Harold... although I would have used the second base sequencing we were developing in class. Makes this section a lot faster and more efficient." she types quickly on the screen, then turns it around to show Harold.

"Ah why didn't I think of that before?" he nods.

"That's because you prefer the simple-"

"Whilst all this nerd talk is lovely and I'm glad you're bonding," Shaw pulls a mask out of the bag and holds it up, "we have some work to do."

Harold mumbles something and Shaw's certain she hears the words nerd and ass at least twice. John addresses Root.

"Have you heard of Dominic?"

"Yeah sure, but I know a lot of Dominic's so you'll have to be specific."

Shaw scoffs. "Now's not the time for sarcasm Root."

John ignores them both and continues. "A year ago, he dropped out of college in his second year to help his father run his business... and by business we mean the Brotherhood."

Root exhales slowly. "I've heard of them."

"Then you know how dangerous they are." Shaw says and Root tilts her head.

"Aw you're worried about me."

"I'm worried about the mission." she retorts and John and Harold give each other the side-eye. Shaw sits back in her seat and clutches the backpack. She's worrying about the mission. The mission.

"Anyway... Dominic has quickly risen through the Brotherhood's ranks and now our neighbourhood is at risk of becoming controlled by him. He owns a warehouse where he keeps a few supplies, such as guns and money, but that's not what we're interested in." John explains, then looks at Shaw to continue.

Shaw turns to Root. "Remember how we met?"

"How could I forget? After we escaped prison, you took me out on a lovely date-"

"Shut up." Shaw cuts her off and John chuckles so she glares at him. "Well I stole a USB stick from one of Dominic's safe houses and almost got caught, until you showed up that is. Now you know what I was doing."

"I told you it wasn't worth it Shaw. You were extremely lucky Root was there." Harold grumbles and Shaw's touched he still cares about that. They had a big argument about whether they needed the device or not and John was the deciding vote. So of course Shaw went, did recon, and expected things to run smoothly.

Sometimes the best laid plans don't always work out, but she's kind of glad in a way they didn't, because if they did then she wouldn't have met Root in the circumstances she did.

"Why did you need it?" Root asks.

"It has a record of all of Dominic's imports and exports on it from the last six months, and so we were able to work out where most of his warehouses and other safe houses were until the memory stick corrupted itself, presumably set off by Dominic. It was too late of course, and now there's no way he will have been able to move all his cargo in the time frame since."

"We've been scouting a few of the big locations out, hoping to get a chance to get inside." John starts the car and exits the carpark, driving towards an industrial area. "I got an alert from one of Harold's motion sensor cameras that there was a lot of crew activity moving outside the warehouse located in South Street Seaport."

"Now Dominic and his crew are almost done packing up, there's going to be a lot of confusion and not a lot of security as people move in and out of the area, which gives us a perfect chance." Shaw's heart starts racing again. She probably shouldn't be this excited about criminal activity, but then again, it's been a while since she's done a proper heist and it really gets her blood pumping.

"But what do you need to steal?" Root absorbs all the information in quick succession, and Shaw can practically see the cogs turning in her brain.

"Have you heard of something called a black book?"

"Isn't that where guys write down their sexual conquests?" Root looks confused again and Shaw's not surprised.

"Well, yes, but that's not what we mean in this context. Dominic's black book contains a list of secret contacts and customers. Basically if we get it we'll have his client list and therefore we'll be able to hold those people liable and blackmail them. If Dominic has no clients, then he has no business in our neighbourhood, and he'll have no choice but to move on." Shaw says and Root nods. Perhaps this will go alright after all.

"What do you need me to do?"

Harold joins in the conversation again. "Well usually I let these two mayhem twins-" Shaw and John smirk at each other, "- bust into the place and I help shut down the security passwords and copy all the data onto my laptop, then they smuggle us all out of there. But because of my back, I can't go in with them. Instead I'll be watching from the cameras via my laptop in the car. We need you to disable any locks and connect me to the servers. I'd get them to do it but you know what they're like with computers." Harold states and Root smiles briefly, then drops it and furrows her brow.

"Hey Root?" Root glances up at Shaw's words. "We'll keep you safe." The intense way Shaw's staring at Root and the firmness in her voice makes the statement sound like a promise.

"Yeah if worst comes to pass, I'll pick Shaw up and chuck her at them and they'll topple like bowling pins." John jokes and the tense atmosphere in the car lessens slightly. Shaw rolls her eyes and the rest of the car ride passes in silence.

Five minutes before they're due to arrive, Root reaches over and clutches Shaw's hand. Shaw doesn't let go until John's pulling up to the side of a building across the road from the warehouse.

Harold types on his laptop and four surveillance camera boxes appear on the screen. Two of them are blacked out, the others are outside shots of the front door of the warehouse.

"Root there should be a small box on inside the building where you can connect me to the cameras on the inside. Just connect the tablet with the correct wires," Harold says, "and that's all from me. Good luck. Ooh wait! Almost forgot these." He reaches into his bag and hands them all an earpiece. John raises his eyebrow. Harold's cheeks go slightly pink. "I wasn't sure if I'd have these ready in time but since I've been off school I've had some time on my hands."

"Nice one." Shaw says and puts it in her ear, and the other two do the same. They leave the car and look at the warehouse. There's a big truck parked outside the front entrance but the side gate is open and there's only one man stood near it. They hide behind a wall in a gap between the warehouse and the building next door. They pull the masks over their faces and wait patiently for him to move. Minutes tick by and Shaw shifts uncomfortably.

"We're too exposed we need to move." she whispers.

"We can't, not until he's gone." John replies.

"Any help, Harold?" Shaw grinds her teeth.

"I'm afraid not, you'll have to figure a way past him yourselves." Harold's voice is clear over the earpieces.

"You guys are so cute." Root says and walks over to the electrics box from the building next door.

"What are you doing?" Shaw hisses and runs after her. Root opens the box, scans the wires and selects a red one, then yanks it out. An outside light from the building starts to flicker rapidly and the man's attention is diverted. He stares at the light for a few seconds, glances around him, then changes his mind and starts to walk towards it. Shaw grabs Root and they duck behind the wall that John's hiding behind. Shaw pushes against Root and flattens her against the bricks. Root looks down at her, smiling broadly as Shaw's body is covering hers. Shaw scowls and steps back. The man passes their hiding place to check out the light.

They walk quickly through the side gate of the warehouse and enter through a back door. The room is dark and small, and filled with sealed boxes of something marked delicate. Shaw wouldn't be surprised if they looked in the boxes to find drugs.

John glances through the small glass window in the door and immediately ducks.

"Get down and be quiet." he whispers and Shaw nods.

"Hey Shaw?" Root nudges her and Shaw follows Root's line of sight to a bunch of wires and a cracked computer screen on a desk in the corner of the room. Shaw glances at John and, like so many times before, an unspoken conversation occurs in seconds and John nods. He covers the door and Shaw goes towards Root.

She pulls two wires out of the back of the computer monitor and connects one into the earphone jack of the tablet. It lights up with code and Root types something too quick for Shaw's eyes to follow. She leans in close.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't need to go to the box that Harold said."

"Why?" the question is uttered by Shaw and Harold in the earpiece at the same time. Root sighs.

"You underestimate my abilities Harry." Root mutters. "I'm hurt."

"I can see you!" Harold exclaims. Shaw glances up at the red blinking light of a security camera in the corner of the room. She waves at it and is about to ask Root something when the suddenly an alarm blares from outside the warehouse and there's a commotion from outside.

"Now it's time to have some fun." Root laughs and wow. They really do make a good team.

"Time to go." she says and they exit the room, staying close to the wall. John is first, then Root in the middle, and Shaw bringing up the rear. Almost all of the people John saw through the window before have gone outside to help find the source of the noise.

"Down the left corridor." Harold guides them through the maze of the warehouse. They quickly glance in different rooms until stopping at the second to last one. There's a safe in the middle of the room and two men stand guarding it.

They flatten against the wall and Shaw asks John a question through her eyes. He gulps and purses his lips.

"Meet you in the car okay?" he murmurs and Shaw places a hand on his shoulder briefly before turning away and taking Root by the hand. They hide in the room opposite John, and Shaw closes the door softly.

"Why are we leaving him?" Root whispers and Shaw motions for her to be quiet. John stands up and knocks on the door of the room. One of the guards opens the door and glances down the corridor.

He doesn't even see John's fist hit his face before he goes crumpling to the floor. The other man gives a shout of alarm and runs out of the room, chasing after John. Shaw is already on the move and crouches down next to the safe, turning the dial and listening closely to it.

"Cover me." Shaw says and Root nods.

It takes her ten seconds longer than she would have liked to crack the safe, but now's not really the time to be a perfectionist. She moves all the other papers out of the way and pulls out the book. She secures it in the backpack and they work their way back through the warehouse, using Harold when necessary.

"Aren't we going to go after John?" Root asks and turns the corner.

"It's too danger- _oof_." a hand reaches out of a room and slams Shaw against the wall. A white light explodes behind her eyes as her head hits the bricks and she falls to the ground. She sees Root glance round the corner and she shakes her head subtly. Root is panic-stricken and there's no way she'll be able to fight this guy off by herself, and she needs to be safe. The man doesn't know Root exists at the moment, and Shaw wants to very much keep it that way. She motions for her to go find help, go find John, even Harold. Anyone. Just get out of here.

"Who are you?!" a man yells and kicks Shaw hard and fast in the ribs. She cries out in pain, but finds the energy to spit on his shoes. He grabs her by her coat lapels and hauls her up again, slamming her once more against the wall. She feels something warm and sticky trickle down her face and in alarm she realises it's her own blood.

Shaw doesn't answer him and so he jabs one finger directly in her face.

"I'll give you one chance before I call reinforcements." he growls.

"Do you really need to call back up to take a teenager down?" Shaw replies and he rips the mask off her head. As he recognises just exactly how young she actually is, his grip loosens on her and that's all she needs. She kicks out at his knee with the heel of her boot and he yelps in pain and instantly falls to the floor. She doesn't even check to see if he's down for good, instead she runs around the corner and almost crashes into Root. She's taking her mask off and shoves it into her pocket.

"What are you doing? Run!" Shaw exclaims and Root nods again, her face pale and alarmed as her eyes look at the blood on Shaw's face. Shaw takes two precious seconds to grab her hand and squeeze it. Root exhales and snaps into action, and they both run out of the side of warehouse and across the street. Luckily, the men are still focused on the main entrance and the alarm to notice them, and any man they encountered inside is currently on the floor or knocked out. They pile into Harold's car, slamming the door behind them.

"Jesus Christ, Shaw." John is in the drivers seat and Shaw exhales a sigh a relief at seeing him safe.

"Just drive John." she moans and clutches her side where she was kicked in the ribs. The dull ache starts twisting like a knife, and she lies down on the back seat. Root pulls Shaw's head gently into her lap and brushes strands of her hair that have fallen out of her ponytail out of her face. John drives quickly but steady as so not to knock Shaw about too much.

"'m fine Root." she mumbles.

"You're not." Root says and her voice wavers, but then she clears her throat and snaps her head up to look at Harold. "Do you have any tissues?"

Harold sticks his hand into his coat pocket and fumbles with a packet of pocket tissues and then gives up trying to get one out and throws the whole thing to Root. Root's hand leaves her head, then she takes a tissue out of the packet and presses it to the wound. A quiet moan escapes her lips.

"Shhh." Root grips Shaw's arm with her spare hand, and Shaw rests her eyes for a few seconds.

"Where to?" John says quietly.

"My house. My mom is travelling to a hotel tonight because she's at a business conference for a week. I was going to tell you tonight," Root glances back down at Shaw, who opens her eyes and stares directly at her, "cause then you could have stopped at mine for a week without worrying about her."

"What makes you think I'd want to stay a week with you?" Shaw mumbles and Root can't help herself from smiling at Shaw's stupid reply.

"Shut up. Anyway, it's not like you've got a choice now is it?" Root counters and John interrupts them to confirm directions. Root tells him to make the next two lefts and he parks on Root's drive. Her mother's car is nowhere in sight.

Root and John help Shaw into the house, and lie her down on the couch. Root immediately rushes to find a first aid kit and John crouches down next to her. He removes the tissue from her wound to have a look and locks his jaw, pushing down his worry and anger tight.

"We've been in worse scraps than this." Shaw says and John drags his gaze away from her wound and looks at her.

"I know." his voice is small.

"It's not my injuries you should be worried about, it's the fact I've got Root looking after me." Shaw jokes and John smirks.

"I bet you'll love her playing nurse." he whispers and Shaw grins, and then Root arrives with the first aid kit and John stands up.

"I'd better take Harold home, I don't think he can take all this excitement." John says and a thought comes to Shaw.

"We left your car in the movie theatre car park! We were meant to go back for it after."

"Honestly Shaw? It's the least of my worries right now. I'll get it tomorrow, I'll take Joss with me." John replies and with a nod goodbye to Root he leaves the house, closing the front door gently behind him. Root pulls out an antiseptic wipe and hovers it over her wound.

"This is going to sting."

Shaw nods, and does her best not to wince when Root dabs at it, cleaning the blood away. She pulls out a bandage and secures it with some first aid tape.

"Let me look at your side." Root whispers and she suddenly looks almost shy. Shaw wonders why when she realises that she's going to have to take her shirt off, or at least lift her top up for Root to see. She nods to give Root permission, and Root's fingers tug at the bottom of her top and pull it upwards. Shaw's stomach muscles tense at the cold air hitting them. Root tenderly presses a finger to the red mark below Shaw's ribs and Shaw grunts.

"Yeah that's going to be sore." Root comments and Shaw rolls her eyes.

"Thank you, doctor, that's a big help."

"You know it's not a good time to be sarcastic when you're almost shirtless in front of me and I have my hand on your abs." Root shoots back and Shaw raises an eyebrow.

"Like touching my abs Root?"

"Mmm." Root grins and removes her hand. Shaw pulls her top down and sits up slowly. Root leans back on the couch and sighs loudly.

"I think we'll take it slow for the next few weeks." Shaw says and Root smiles. What?

"Take what slow?"

Shaw nudges Root with her elbow, "Our criminal activity." she clarifies.

"I thought so. You'd never be one to take it slow like that anyway."

"Oh really?"

"Yep." Root stands up and walks towards the bookcase that holds more DVDs than Shaw can count, "So rom-com or horror?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

Root chooses a recent horror-thriller film and slides it into the DVD player, then settles on the couch close to Shaw.

Shaw only makes it half way into the film before closing her eyes from exhaustion, and this time Root is the one to watch Shaw as her chest slowly rises and falls as she sleeps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while, school's getting really busy at the moment and it's difficult for me to find time to write. Hope you enjoy.


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